10th Nov

IPT IO N SC R SU B

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2012

THUL HIJJAH 25, 1433 AH

No: 15623

48 arrested 7Two royals Europa - Liverpool suffer surprise defeat

150 Fils

71 Syrian soldiers flee to Turkey

over critical tweets Kuwait opposition shuns polls; Registration closes

Max 36º Min 18º

KUWAIT: (Left to right) Kuwaiti lawyer Thekra Al-Rashidi, Jenan Bushehri and Muna Al-Fuzai, Kuwait Times columnist and well-known journalist, filed nomination papers yesterday from the third constituency to contest in the forthcoming Kuwait parliamentary elections — Photos by Yasser Al-Zayyat

By B Izzak And Agencies

Iran’s warplanes fire on US drone WASHINGTON: Iranian warplanes fired at an unarmed US drone in international airspace last week but did not hit the aircraft, the Pentagon said yesterday, disclosing details of an unprecedented incident that triggered a formal warning to Tehran through diplomatic channels. The Nov 1 intercept was the first time Tehran had fired at an unmanned American aircraft, in a stark reminder of how tensions between the United States and Iran could escalate quickly into violence.

If Iran had hit the drone, as the Pentagon believes it was trying to do, it could have forced American retaliation - with the potential consequences that entails.

According to the timeline provided by the Pentagon, two Iranian SU-25 “Frogfoot” aircraft intercepted the American drone at about 4:50 am as it conducted a routine, but classified, surveillance mission over Gulf waters about 16 nautical miles off the Iranian coast.

Pentagon spokesman George Little said the aircraft fired multiple rounds at the Predator drone and followed it for at least several miles as it moved farther away from Iranian airspace. “We believe that they fired at least twice and made at least two passes,”

he said. International airspace begins after 12 nautical miles and Little said the drone at no point entered Iranian airspace. Last year, a crashed CIA drone was recovered inside Iran.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta was quickly notified of the incident, as were members of Congress and the White House, Little added. The United States also sent Iran a warning through diplomatic channels, saying it would defend its military assets and would keep sending aircraft on such surveillance operations. “There is absolutely no precedence for this,” Little said. “This is the first time that a (drone) has been fired upon to our knowledge by Iranian aircraft.”

Many questions about the incident remain, including why Iranian warplanes could not manage - if they wanted - to shoot down an unarmed drone, which lacks advanced capabilities to outmaneuver them. Asked whether the Iranian aircraft were simply firing warning shots, Little said: “Our working assumption is that they fired to take it down. You’ll have to ask the Iranians why they engaged in this action.”

There was no immediate comment by Iranian officials. — Reuters

KUWAIT: Kuwait has arrested two members of the Al-Sabah ruling family for tweets deemed critical of the government and supportive of the opposition, a human rights group and a lawyer said yesterday. Sheikh Abdullah Salem Al-Sabah and Sheikh Nawaf Malek Al-Sabah were arrested for expressing political views on Twitter, the independent Kuwait Human Rights News Centre said. Sheikh Abdullah’s lawyer AlHumaidi Al-Subaie said his client was arrested late on Wednesday and was expected to be questioned by the public prosecutor later.

The two young royals have written tweets sympathetic to the Kuwaiti opposition, which has been organizing protests against an amendment to the electoral law seen as designed to produce a pro-government parliament in a snap December 1 general election.

More than 150 protesters and 24 police have been injured at demonstrations since October 21 and the opposition plans another rally on Sunday. Young royal Sheikh Meshaal Al-Malek Al-Sabah was detained for a few days in July for expressing political views deemed offensive.

Meanwhile, registration of candidates for Kuwait’s upcoming polls closed yesterday amid a total boycott by the opposition in protest over amendment of the disputed electoral law. “Not a single opposition member has registered. This is a major success for the opponents,” said Talal Al-Kashti, director of Etijahat Studies Center, a private think-tank on local politics, especially elections.

As many as 387 hopefuls, including 15

women, filed nomination papers for the December 1 snap polls during the 10-day registration period, but 250 of them registered in the final two days amid opposition allegations of corruption. Only 10 members of the 50-seat parliament elected in February registered. The house was scrapped in a historical ruling by the constitutional court on June 20 which set the stage for the current political crisis. “The next parliament will be entirely pro-government, toothless and with no real powers,” Kashti said.

The opposition said it is boycotting the polls because the amended electoral law, claiming it allows the government to influence the outcome of the results and elect a rubber stamp parliament. Under the previous law, Kuwaiti voters were able to choose up to four candidates, but that has now been reduced to only one. The opposition vowed to continue its campaign against the election. “After lower the curtain on the candidates registration play, its time for the (voting) boycott to bring the downfall of the illegitimate parliament,” said opposition figure and former Islamist MP Waleed Al-Tabtabei on Twitter.

The opposition plans to stage a large rally tomorrow to mark the 50th anniversary of the constitution and to protest against the electoral law. More than 150 protesters and 24 police have been slightly injured at three demonstrations since October 21. The upcoming election is the second this year and the fifth since mid-2006 as the oil-rich Gulf state has been rocked by ongoing political crises between parliament and the government led by the Al-Sabah ruling family.

LOCAL

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2012

Opposition expects 250,000 protesters at Irada Square Veteran politicians invited to attend

Ahmad Al-Mulaifi

Mohammed Hussein Al-Qallaf

Awatef Al-Qallaf

Ali Al-Omair

Essam Al-Dabous

Askar Al-Enezi

KUWAIT: The opposition returns to Irada Square tomorrow for a mass rally following two demonstrations in which police used teargas to disperse what they described as unlicensed gatherings and marches held in Kuwait City over the past few weeks. Leading opposition figure Khalid Al-Sultan announced that “marches will no longer be held” as he addressed a crowd attending a forum organized by the Kuwait Movement for Reform Wednesday night. He also dismissed scenarios “hinting of a coup administered by the Muslim Brotherhood” as allegedly being behind the opposition’s movements against the upcoming elections.

Nahj and other groups affiliated with the opposition met Wednesday to put the final touches for tomorrow’s sit-in which coincides with the 50th anniversary of Kuwait’s constitution. According to sources, the organizing committee decided to distribute number

cards to people in attendance with plans to allow holder of Card Number 250,000 to address the crowd. This is an indication that the opposition is optimistic that a large number of citizens will take part in their rally.

Several veteran politicians “known for being correlated with the Constitution” are invited to attend the gathering, said the sources who spoke anonymously to a local daily, adding that coordination is ongoing with “Dr Ahmad Al-Khateeb, Ahmad AlSaadoun, Waleed Al-Jerry, Dr Hassan Jowhar and Saleh Al-Mulla” to be in attendance.

“Speeches during the rally are set to focus on violations the constitution has been subjected to during the past five decades, and won’t address political conflicts or the elections”, the sources added. They further indicated that the gatherers will be instructed to raise only orange banners during the sit-in; the color which symbolizes boycotting the Dec 1

elections in protest against an emergency decree that altered the voting mechanism followed during the last four elections.

Despite the opposition’s vehement calls for boycotting, a total of 387 candidates registered for the upcoming elections at the end of the final day of registration yesterday which alone saw 163 candidates registering.

The total number is considered the third largest in Kuwait’s history after 1999 and 1981, and exceeds the number of candidates registered in 2003, 2006, 2008, 2009 as well as the elections held last February which were annulled by a Constitutional Court order four months later. 88 candidates had registered Thursday which closed at 229 candidates including 10 women.

Meanwhile, a local daily reported yesterday quoting “legal sources” that 15 candidates face disqualification as per a list updated on Thursday. The sources who spoke on

NBK enjoys largest coverage of social media networks KUWAIT: National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) enjoys the largest coverage of social media networks in Kuwait including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Foursquare and Google+.

NBK is among the first banks to establish a strong social media presence. NBK’s twitter account has recently has been officially verified.

The verified badge helps users discover high-quality sources of information and trust that a legitimate

source is authoring the account’s tweets.

NBK greatly values the role that social media channels play in Kuwait and utilizes them as an important mean of keeping in touch with NBK customers and their concerns. NBK social media team answers customers on Facebook and Twitter and post the latest news, promotions and services. NBK frequently launches competitions on social media as a way of reward-

ing its fans.

NBK is keen to support customers through all channels and views social media networks as important aspects for supporting the lifestyle and banking habits of NBK clients. For more information regarding banking transactions, events and competitions check out National Bank of Kuwait official facebook page NBK - Official Page or follow NBK on Twitter @NBKPage, and on Instagram @NBKPage

the condition of anonymity indicated that the list includes two members in the scrapped 2012 parliament, while a local daily hinted that they could be controversial politicians Mohammad Al-Juwaihel and Abdulhameed Dashty. The list will be viewed by the judicial committee that is following up with the election process to determine whether the candidates are disqualified or not.

The opposition which won majority seats in last February’s elections argue that an emergency decree law which dropped the number of candidates each citizen can vote for from four to one, is aimed to give an unfair advantage to pro-government candidates in the upcoming elections. Two marches staged on October 21 and November 4 were forcibly stopped by police as state laws only allow peaceful gatherings to take place at a square adjacent to the Parliament’s building known as ‘Irada (willpower) Square’.

More cameras to monitor Gulf Road KUWAIT: The Arabian Gulf Road will completely be monitored from the beginning of next year with 92 cameras that take audio and video footage 24 hours a day, and connected to the operations room in the Ministry of Interior.

This was reported by a local daily yesterday quoting a letter sent by the ministry to the Kuwait Municipality requesting “the wiring map” along the road in order to install “new cameras that take complete footage od vehicle movement there”.

This procedure comes as a “security measure in the first place and a complementary step to the security system by which the ministry looks to keep the security situation in Kuwait monitored through a network of surveillance cameras”, reads the letter as quoted by Al-Rai. The ministry’s information technology department is assigned to follow up with this project and finish it within two months, Al-Rai reported.

LOCAL SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2012

Govt bodies warned to pay electricity bills MoE allocates KD 2 billion budget KUWAIT: The Ministry of Electricity and Water sent final warning to 139 senior state officials on Thursday asking them to pay their electricity bills and avoid service cut, a local daily reported yesterday quoting a senior ministry official.

Names of the senior officials “who are hired as undersecretaries and assistant undersecretaries in different state departments” are to be referred to the Cabinet after the warnings were sent “for further action to be taken”, said Assistant Undersecretary for Consumers Affairs Abdullah Al-Hajri. These measures include cutting the electricity and water services within a month from the warning according to the ministry’s regulations.

The warnings were written and sent to the officials under supervision of Minister of Electricity and Water, AbdulAziz Al-Ibrahim, Al-Hajri added.

In other news, Al-Rai reported yesterday that the Savings and Credit Bank sent a recommendation to Housing

Minister Jamaal Al-Shehab to increase the housing loan from KD70,000 to KD100,000. “The recommendation came for technical considerations mainly the increase in the prices of lands”, said sources with knowledge of the case.

The sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity further indicate that the recommendation is likely to be accepted by the minister and later the Cabinet “since all parties involved understand the impact of the increasing land prices on housing projects”.

The sources did not give a timeline as to when the recommendation could be adopted other than “it is given top importance and is set to be referred to the Cabinet soon”.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education allocated an estimated KD 2 billion budget for the fiscal year 2013-14, a local daily reported yesterday quoting ministry insiders.

The sources who spoke to a local daily on the condition of anonymity, indicated

that adopting the budget officially is pending finalization of the salaries and allowances budget that is estimated alone at KD 1.600 billion.

Meanwhile, other ministry insiders told the same daily that the ministry prepares to cancel a number of developmental projects seen as having “secondary importance” in order to give departments the time and resources to focus on more significant projects.

“Several departments have already started assessing projects included in the state’s development plan in order to determine the ministry’s need for them to be fulfilled”, said the sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

They added that top ministry officials are working as per instructions of Minister of Education and Higher Education Dr Nayef Al-Hajraf “who wants necessary projects to be determined as soon as possible in order to be sent to the relevant state departments to be adopted in the government’s next plan”.

Kuwait constitution ‘manifesto for economic development’ KUWAIT: Kuwaiti constitution pays great attention to the economic requirements of Kuwait as modern state and prioritizes social justice, two Kuwaiti economists said yesterday.

In statements on the occasion of Kuwait’s celebration of the 50th anniversary of the ratification of the constitution, the Economist Nasser Al-Merri said this occasion is a reminder of the importance of this constitution which guides the State of Kuwait to better future.

Kuwait’s constitution was issued on November 11, 1962 by a decree from the then-Amir Sheikh Abdullah Al-Salem Al-Sabah, the 11th ruler of Kuwait, he pointed out.

Al-Merri noted that the articles of the constitution did not ignore the national economy and social justice, adding that the constitution is less important that the natural resources it has. “The constitution outlined the economic, political and social features of the state,” he stressed.

For his part, Abeljalel Pouland said the Kuwaiti constitution is based on democracy.

In similar statements, Bouland urged all compatriots to abide by democratic approach and to give priority to the state’s higher interests.

The two economists agreed that the constitution have enshrined all required measures to achieve economic development, increase production, raise the standard of living and achieve prosperity for all citizens.

Kuwaiti-Jordanian relations ‘unaffected’ by statements

KUWAIT: Awzim tribesmen in the fifth electoral constituency recently held a dinner banquet which was attended by hundreds of them in addition to a number of former MPs.

ABK announces fourth draw winners KUWAIT: Al-Ahli Bank of Kuwait announced the fourth draw winners of its “Update your Info Campaign”. The lucky winners were Enrique Miranda from Shuwaikh Branch who won Samsung Galaxy S lll and Majeda Aboud Essa from Sabah Hospital Branch who won iPad 3.

Stewart Lockie, General Manager of the Retail Banking Division said,

“Customers that update their personal information at any ABK branch will automatically be entered into a draw for a weekly chance to win an iPad 3 or a Samsung Galaxy S III and a monthly draw to win cash prizes. There are 7 more weekly draws coming up until 23rd December so I would suggest for everyone to update their info as soon as possi-

ble, so as to get a chance to win any of these valuable prizes.”

For more information regarding updating your information or to learn about any of ABK’s services, please visit www.eahli.com to talk directly with one of our Account Managers through Al Ahli Chat Service or call Ahlan Ahli on 1899899.

KUWAIT: Jordan’s Ambassador to Kuwait Dr Mohammad Al-Kayed reiterated the “strength of Kuwaiti-Jordanian relations” which he says are “unaffected” by statements of former MP Musallam Al-Barrak in which he accused his country of sending troops to help Kuwaiti forces disperse unlicensed protest gatherings.

Al-Barrak’s allegations were categorically denied by Kuwait’s Foreign Ministry in a statement that Dr Al-Kayed said was “enough” as he spoke to reporters at a celebration hosted by the Algerian Embassy recently.

The ambassador also mentioned his country’s cooperation with Kuwait “as per a treaty signed in the 60s”, under which military colleges in both countries carry out regular student exchange programs.

Asked about a Kuwaiti student who was hospitalized in Jordan following an attack by angry Jordanian students in retaliation to Al-Barrak’s offensive remarks, Dr Al-Kayed indicated that the student had already been released from hospital, adding that legal procedures are underway.

Student Zayed Al-Ajmi arrived in Kuwait Thursday night and told a local daily’s reporter that he suspended his scholarship in Jordan and is looking for another country to complete his degree.

He also believes that the group who attacked him are at odds with the Jordanian government “and used Al-Barrak’s statements as an excuse” to attack him.

He added that other Kuwaiti students left Jordan Thursday morning “in fear of retaliatory attacks”.

LOCAL SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2012

Candidate threatened to withdraw name Man charged with attempted kidnap KUWAIT: A candidate in the upcoming elections filed a case at the Jabriya police station after receiving threats calling him to withdraw his registration. Abdullah Al-Saleh, who is running in the third constituency, called police after receiving remarks over Twitter in which an unknown person warned him against going to a diwaniya in South Surra where he was invited. He further explained that the tweet came after he rejected a similar tweet from someone asking him to withdraw his registration. The man headed to file a case on police’s request in order for investigations to start.

case after he signed an injunction.

Salmiya police tried to reach the man on his phone number provided by the Kuwaiti woman, and launched a search after he failed to answer their calls. The man was eventually arrested in an ambush set up in Al-Salaam and brought to the Salmiya police station where he said during interrogation that he only wanted to talk with his ex-girlfriend with the hope of getting back together after running into her at a local mall. He admitted grabbing her hand when she refused to listen to him, but denied intending to kidnap her. The man was released after the injunction was issued.

Road accident A man was killed and another was injured in a collision between two cars reported Thursday morning on Kabd Road. The Egyptian driver was pronounced dead on the scene by paramedics who left with the other vehicle’s Kuwaiti driver to the Farwaniya Hospital. The body was taken to the forensic department and a case was filed for investigations to reveal the circumstances behind the accident.

Drug dealer A drug dealer was arrested after being busted selling pills to a man who managed to escape. The incident took place in Al-Sulaibikhat where patrol officers noticed two vehicles parked in a dark place with the drivers engaged in conversation. One driver managed to get into his vehicle and drive away as police approached, while the other was cornered since a concrete barricade had blocked his way. The man was put under arrest after a number of pills were found with him during search. He admitted during investigations that he was in the middle of negotiations to sell the

Kidnap attempt A man was held briefly on attempted kidnap charges pressed by his exgirlfriend who eventually dropped the

drugs when the officers approached them. He was taken to the Drug Control General Department.

Car theft Hawally detectives are looking for a middle-aged woman accused of fraud charges pressed by three car rentals within the governorate. The Iraqi woman reportedly failed to return vehicles she rented from the three offices, and also failed to answer their calls. Investigations are ongoing.

Pedestrian robbed Search is ongoing for a male suspect who robbed a pedestrian at knifepoint after offering to take him to his destination for free. According to his statements to Fahaheel police station officers, the Egyptian victim was waiting at a bus station in Fahaheel when he was approached by a “luxurious car” whose driver offered to take him to Farwaniya for free. The suspect soon took out a knife and demanded that the man hand over his wallet; which he did. He pulled over then and kicked the man out before driving away with the wallet that contained KD 120 according to him.

Police later learned that the car the suspect used is reported stolen after checking the car’s license plate number. — Al-Watan, Al-Anbaa, Al-Rai

12 injured in traffic accidents

By Hanan Al-Saadoun KUWAIT: Two Bangladeshis were injured in a collision opposite Al-Zahra area, near the 360 Mall, said security sources noting that the two men were rushed to Mubarak and Farwaniya hospitals for treatment.

Two citizens, aged 22 and 30-years-old, were injured in an accident along King Faisal Road. They were both rushed to Farwaniya hospital for treatment.

A 22-year-old citizen sustained neck pain while a 35-year-old female citizen felt dizzy when their cars collided along the Third Ring Road.

Four Iranians and two unidentified people were injured in collision along the Fourth Ring Road, said security sources noting that six ambulances were dispatched to the scene which carried them to Al-Sabah and Farwaniya hospitals for treatment.

Constitution Day ceremony preparations As a part of the preparations for the Constitution Day ceremony due to be held today, MoH’s medical emergencies department deployed 10 ambulances and 100 paramedics along the ceremony area in addition to setting a field clinic to provide immediate necessary medical services. The sources added that both medical services and firemen have been coordinating together to secure the celebration area. The organizers also advised people with chronic diseases to take their medicines with them in case of any emergency as well as to help paramedics provide medical aid as necessary.

Study suggests raising citizens’ kids allowance KUWAIT: A well-informed ministerial source revealed that increasing citizens’ kids allowance from KD 50 to 75 is just one of the proposals which are being studied carefully before approval.

Further, the sources explained that the government had been studying several ideas that would achieve equality and justice among citizens. They added that the final decision on them would be declared tomorrow on the occasion of the Constitution’s Golden Jubilee.

Moreover, the sources highlighted that the new decisions aim at reducing citizens’ sufferings and helping them by providing a more dignified life.

The sources also noted that to do so, the government would pay the value of shares due to be granted to citizens in some new shareholding companies. They added that upon Amiri directives, the housing problem would be given top priority on the government’s agenda. — Al-Anbaa

Fleet modernization top priority for new KAC board

KUWAIT: Ahmadi municipality recently removed two illegal communication towers, two illegal caravans, an illegal garden and an abandoned lorry as a part of tackling law violations across the country. — Photos by Hanan Al-Saadoun

Man who injured photographers freed on bail KUWAIT: A man accused of running over two photographers during a gathering that took place in Sabah AlNasser last week was released on a KD 1,000 bail on Thursday, local dailies reported yesterday.

The judge announced the decision after the suspect pleaded not guilty of

accusations that he deliberately hit AlRai daily and Ministry of Interior photographers.

The man argued that the accident occurred when confusion resulted from smoke bombs. He also said that he honked in an attempt to get the photographers’ attention to move

away but they didn’t pay heed. The incident took place while the photographers were covering an unlicensed gathering held to protest former MP Musallam Al-Barrak’s arrest over charges of undermining the status of HH the Amir. Al-Barrak was later released on a KD 10,000 bail. — Al-Rai

KUWAIT: On his first meeting with the board of directors, Sami Al-Nisf, the Chairman of board of Kuwait Airways Corporation (KAC) disclosed that the main topics on the meeting’s agenda included reviving KAC as the main national carrier through government support after reviewing the carrier’s fleet of planes. “Most of the planes are too old and cost a lot to be maintained and operated”, he said, adding that the second main topic on the agenda was employees’ retirement.

Al-Nisf promised to hold further meetings over the coming days to outline the new strategies of KAC, including some fare changes. Moreover, the new board of directors gave KAC employees a one-month grace period to make up their minds on whether they wish to keep working for the corporation or get transferred to another government establishment. — Al-Anbaa-Annahar

LOCAL

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2012

No pressures on candidates for parliamentary polls Information minister clarifies stand KUWAIT: Minister of Information and Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah Al-Mubarak AlSabah said on Thursday his government applies no pressures on possible candidates for upcoming parliamentary elections. “The government abides strictly by the provisions of the constitution and the related laws in addressing any issue relating to elections; there is no irregularity in this regard,” he stressed.

Sheikh Mohammad made the remarks in a press conference here on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the adoption of Kuwait’s constitution which falls today.

Commenting on recent reports that some politicians plan to boycott the elections, he said: “To boycott is a legal, peaceful and civilized means for view expression; it’s sanctioned by law.”

“There’s is nothing in the law against boycotters as long as they abide by the peaceful means which expressing their political views. But experience shows that a boycotter is the main loser,” he said, inviting observers to verify that in the coming days. The government will allow no irregu-

larity or breach of law while organizing the elections and preparing the ground for orderly polling, he went on.

Asked about preparations for new laws, he said the Cabinet will debate during its next weekly meeting a draft bill to regulate the small and medium enterprises SMEs and could endorse soon.

“Under Article 71 of the Constitution the legislations that could have financial impacts must be in consistency with the state budget.

The Constitution provides that emergency decrees and legislations could be passed only when they are urgently needed and will not add burden to the budget,” he noted.

The minister refuted recent allegations on new cash handout to the citizens and pay increments to civil servants.

Meanwhile, the Director-General of Kuwait Ports Authority Sheikh Sabah Jaber Al-Ali Al-Sabah underscored the important role of the Constitution of the State of Kuwait in maintaining the stability of the country and promoting development.

In press statements on the occasion of

the 50th anniversary (Golden Jubilee) of the issuance of the constitution, Sheikh Sabah Jaber Al-Ali said that Kuwaitis, leadership and people, have accepted the constitution as basis for cooperation to build Kuwait’s modern state.

“The Constitution articles, in general, have written to consolidate the foundations and principles of Kuwait since its inception,” he said.

He pointed out that Kuwaitis, since their early history, have been embracing consultation, democracy and popular participation as principle for life and joint action.

These principles have been approved and developed into constitutional articles in Kuwait’s constitution, he said. Kuwait’s constitution was issued on November 11, 1962 by a decree from the then-Amir Sheikh Abdullah Al-Salem Al-Sabah, the 11th ruler of Kuwait.

“The Constitution have greatly contributed to the building of the modern state of Kuwait, and moved the society for the stage of tribalism and sectarianism to the stage of the state of law and institutions,” he added. — KUNA

Wataniya sponsors graduation ceremony KUWAIT: Wataniya Telecom is proud to announce its sponsorship of the Kuwaiti Students’ graduation ceremony organized by the National Union of Kuwaiti Students (NUKS) - UAE Branch recently at Movenpick Hotel - Free Trade Zone. In this ceremony, Kuwaiti students who studied in universities and institutes in United Arab Emirates and Oman were honored for completing their graduation.

The ceremony was held under the Patronage of Dr Nayef Falah Al-Hajraf, Minister of Finance and Acting Minister of Education and Higher Education and also present at the event was Assistant Secretary General of Scholarships and Cultural Relations Dr Rashed AlNuwayhedh who thanked both UAE & Oman for embracing and fostering the Kuwaiti Students in their universities and

institutes. He also expressed his complete confidence in the Ministry of Education and said he believed that these students are well prepared and educated by some of the best academic professionals.

Commenting on sponsoring this special event Wataniya Telecom said, “Supporting activities that promote education and youth interests are our top priority. At Wataniya, we believe that students armed with education and ambition will lead Kuwait to an even more prosperous future.

We will continue to sponsor NUKS-UAE activities in Kuwait and abroad.”

Wataniya then congratulated all the students who have completed their studies and wished them success in their careers.

Wataniya then added, “We will contribute and embrace all student activities and events that lead to youth development.

Our initiatives, services and plans provide young people a chance to stay connected to their friends, education, family and interests via various channels of communication. Furthermore we will take up several new projects and sponsorships which will benefit the education sector and fully support Kuwaiti students at home and abroad.”

At the end of the graduation ceremony, Wataniya Telecom distributed numerous awards to graduates and in appreciation the National Union of Kuwaiti Students (NUKS) have awarded Wataniya for its ongoing support to the various activities and events held by the union. Worth mentioning is also that Wataniya has already agreed to sponsor the NUKS annual festival which will take place in the United Arabs Emirates in December 2012.

Sheikh Ahmad chairs OCA general assembly MACAU, China: President of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) Sheikh Ahmad AlFahad Al-Sabah inaugurated here Thursday the 31st general assembly of the OCA with the participation of representatives of 45 Asian countries.

Sheikh Ahmad welcomed the Asian and global sports family to Macau at the start of the 31st OCA General Assembly at the Macau East Asian Games Dome.

He said he was “happy and proud” that so many sports leaders from around the world had joined the OCA gathering, and thanked the Macau Olympic Committee and government for all the preparations and support.

Following the opening session, the election of the host cities for the 2019 Asian Games and the 2021 Asian Youth Games were held.

Sheikh Ahmad announced the Vietnamese city of Hanoi will host the 2019 and the Indonesian city of Surabaya will host the 2021 Asian Youth Games.

The OCA President lauded the great success of Asian sports and athletes in the London Olympic Games.

Sheikh Ahmad presented Merit Awards to the Vice Mayor of Haiyang city, Gao Jingtao, for the successful hosting of the 3rd Asian Beach Games in June, and to Kyrgyzstan NOC President Murat Saralinov for his contribution to sports development.

The OCA and the Incheon Asian Games Organizing Committee then signed a sponsorship deal with Samsung Electronics for the 17th Asian Games in Incheon, Korea, in 2014, followed by the OCA with Getty Images for photographic services for OCA events.

This concluded the opening session.

Later, the meeting heard reports from the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) and Olympic Solidarity.

There were also updates on preparations for the 17th Asian Games in Incheon, Korea, from September 19-October 4, 2014, the 4th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in Incheon from June 29-July 6, 2013, the 2nd Asian Youth Games in Nanjing, China, from Aug 16 to 24, 2013, the 4th Asian Beach Games in Phuket, Thailand, from Nov 14 to 21, 2014, and the 8th Asian Winter Games in Sapporo, Japan, in January/February 2017. There was also a final report on the 3rd Asian Beach Games in Haiyang, China, this June.

Another event next year, a one-off for the OCA, is the Asian Games Centennial Festival in Boracay, Philippines, in November 2013 celebrating the 100-year anniversary of the first Far Eastern Championships in Manila in 1913.

The Far Eastern Championships is the first recognized multi-sports event held in Asia and evolved eventually into the Asian Games, which began in 1951. The Asian Games Centennial Festival will be held in conjunction with the 32nd OCA General Assembly in Boracay next November.

The OCA General Assembly also reviewed and approved the reports presented by the different committees and subcommittees of the Council. — KUNA

LOCAL SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2012

Kuwait for strengthening peace-keeping missions Praise for UN operations, missions UNITED NATIONS: The State of Kuwait has urged the international community to back up UN peace-keeping missions across the world and re-activating role of the international organization in “pre-emptive diplomacy to avert flare-up of conflicts .” Hassan Abul-Hassan, the third secretary of the Kuwaiti permanent mission at the UN, praised the UN peacekeeping operations and missions throughout the world, namely in regions marked with conflicts, and called for bolstering these missions in accordance with the member states’ political commitment to support collective security and peace.

The States of Kuwait, out of its belief in such role for the UN, affirms necessity of specific definition of the objectives of these missions, coordination and consultation between the UN Security Council and states contributing with troops and units in these missions, said the diplomat during a special session of the UN commission, tasked with debating end of colonization and the peace missions.

He also called for devising new methods and mechanisms to bolster the coordination among the member states, as well as offering necessary financial and technical support for the peace-keeping forces, in addition to conducting researches to determine the troops’ needs in terms of technology and training. Abul-Hasan called for activating the UN role in terms of pre-emptive diplomacy and early warning to avert break-out of regional and international conflicts..

He praised existing cooperation among the member states at this level, confirmed Kuwait’s commitment to pay financial dues to the peace-keeping missions and expressed hope that other nations would follow suit and pay their contributions according to schedules.

The diplomat called for bolstering protection of the peacekeepers and expressed condolences to families of personnel who had lost their life in duty.

Meanwhile, the State of Kuwait has appealed to the international community to exert more efforts to limit effects of climatic change by mapping out national serious strategies to “face such global challenge.”

The call was made by Abdul Mohsen Al-Fares, the third secretary of the Kuwaiti permanent mission at the UN and member of the Kuwaiti delegation that took part in meetings of the UN General Assembly-affiliated economic commission, during its 67th session. The meeting was scheduled for debating sustainable development on a global scale.

Al-Fares called for improving utilization of-and diversifyingenergy resources, exchanging low-emission technology and encouraging employment of alternative energy. He also expressed good wishes for the convention of signatory states of the UN convention on climatic change, due in Doha, with regard of constraining climatic alteration.

Shedding some light on national efforts in this respect, the diplomat said the State of Kuwait, out of its keenness on protecting the environment, had launched the “Fuels CFF Clean” project, aimed at upgrading Mina Abdullah and Mina AlAhmadi refineries to produce environmentally friendly fuels.

Moreover, Kuwait will ogranize, on Nov 20 -22, a regional convention for coping with dust storms. Experts from GCC states and other countries will take part in the gathering.

UNITED NATIONS: Hassan Abul-Hassan (top) and Abdul Mohsen Al-Fares addressing the United Nations over the weekend.

Negative effects of the climate leave damaging results in all countries of the world. They also constitute a main obstacle in face of developing countries in their efforts to attain sustainable development. Furthermore, these repercussions threaten the very existence of island countries and communities.

He also affirmed Kuwait’s continuing policy of aiding the developing nations for accomplishing sustainable development, noting that the Gulf state has spent approximately $15 billion for aiding projects in these countries.

In this vein, HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, had pioneered establishment of a special USD two billion fund for encouraging small and medium enterprisesKuwait contributing with USD 500 million.

Also at the national level, the State has adopted a 20102014 development strategy, estimated at $100 billion, with the aim of hauling the country’s various sectors, infrastructure, upgrading skills of national manpower and diversifying resources of income. — KUNA

Kuwait keen on human rights UNITED NATIONS: Kuwait is against all acts of hatred that incite violence and loathing amongst human beings and is keen on measures that solidify human rights and understanding amongst people of the world, said a diplomat over the weekend. This statement came at the social, cultural, and humanitarian committee meeting of the United Nation’s 67th General Assembly. It was delivered

by Member of the Kuwaiti delegation to

the meeting Fahad Ahmad bin Yousif.

Bin Yousif affirmed that Kuwait was against acts of discrimination and hatred which prompt others to release material that defames others religious beliefs, citing an anti-Islamic work depicting Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) on socialnetwork sites as an example of hate. It’s important to spread notions of equality, forgiveness, and freedom amongst people to have a better future, said the

Kuwaiti diplomat, noting that his country was focusing on educational and media programs on a local level to promote tolerance and understanding within its society. Kuwait also was for international efforts to prevent acts of hatred against religion and beliefs, said Bin Yousif.

Bin Yousif also touched on the Israeli indiscriminate acts against Palestinians, noting that such actions were against international laws and norms. — KUNA

Kuwait establishes diplomatic relations with Vanuatu UNITED NATIONS: The state of Kuwait and the Republic of Vanuatu have established diplomatic relations, a step that falls within framework of Kuwait’s foreign policy of openness with all states of the globe.

The two countries signed a joint declaration, here late on Thursday, stipulating establishment of the diplomatic ties, based on mutual conviction that this move would serve national interests of the two countries. This move was also result of the mutual desire to boost the bilateral ties of friendship and cooperation between the peoples of both countries in the political, economic, cultural fields at the national and international levels.

The two states have decided to set up the bilateral ties according to principles and charter of the United Nations, the Vienna convention regarding diplomatic and consular ties, international laws, particularly those concerning mutual respect of independence, sovereignty and territorial sanctity.

The joint declaration was signed by the Kuwaiti permanent delegate to the UN, Ambassador Mansour Al-Otaibi, and the Ambassador of Vanuatu, Donald Kalpokas.

In a statement to KUNA and Kuwait Television, ambassador Al-Otaibi said he was pleased for establishing the diplomatic relations with the Pacific Republic, with which the State of Kuwait has maintained good ties since 1986.

Such a step falls within framework of the Kuwaiti foreign policy, marked with openness with all states of the world, he affirmed.

The Republic of Vanuatu is, like Kuwait, geographically small in size, however the two countries share common interests regarding diverse international affairs, the senior diplomat said in the statement to the Kuwaiti news agency and the national TV. The Republic, as a country located in the Pacific, is particularly interested in climate issues.

For his part, Ambassador Kalpokas said following the signing ceremony that the agreement for establishing diplomatic relations with Kuwait “does not come as a surprise to us, because we have been good friends of Kuwait for some time.”

“We will stand firm as a partner of Kuwait. We will stand shoulder to shoulder” to see whatever comes up in the United Nations and we will support each other, together with the other members of the world body, he said.

“We will work together on peace and stability in our regions and beyond,” he added.

The Republic of Vanuatu is an island nation located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is some 1,750 kilometers (1,090 mi) east of northern Australia.

It got its independence from the UK and France in 1980.

The country’s capital is Port Vila. Its population is estimated at 224,564, according to a 2011 census. Its area is 12,190 km2. The local language is Bislama, but English and French are widely used too.

The economy is based on agriculture, tourism, offshore financial services, as well as raising cattle and fishing activity. Economic development, however, is hindered by dependence on relatively few commodity exports, vulnerability to natural disasters, and long distances between constituent islands and from main markets. — KUNA

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2012

Child rapes, killings terrify parents in Iraq

8

Putin replaces Russia army chief in military shake-up

9

Obama to make landmark visit to Myanmar this month

12

ANKARA: A picture shows the prison in Sincan, outside Ankara, where 35 Kurdish inmates are on their 52nd day of hunger strike. The Turkish government is under increasing pressure over how to tackle a hunger strike by hundreds of Kurdish prisoners across the country as the protest nears its eighth week and their health deteriorates. — AFP

71 Syrian soldiers flee to Turkey Huge influx heightens Turkish border concerns ANKARA: Around 9,000 Syrian refugees fled into Turkey in the past 24 hours, the UN refugee agency said yesterday, and Turkish state media said 71 defecting Syrian army officers had also arrived.

More than 120,000 registered Syrian refugees are now sheltering in Turkish camps. Tens of thousands of unregistered Syrians are also living in Turkish border towns and villages.

A Turkish Foreign Ministry official had earlier put the latest influx at 8,000 - a single-day total that is sure to heighten Ankara’s concerns about the flood of refugees. Turkey has long pushed for a foreign-protected safe zone inside Syria but the proposal has gained little international support.

Ankara has become increasingly vocal in its frustration at the UN Security Council over its failure to take action. Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan hit out again yesterday at the 15-nation Security Council. “It is very strange. There are cur-

rently atrocities being committed in Syria and these atrocities are being directed by a state leader. While these atrocities are continuing ... there is a United Nations that is remaining silent towards it,” Erdogan said during a trip to Indonesia. “How far will this go? When will the permanent members of the UN Security Council take responsibility? We are obliged to act together to counter this, otherwise we cannot refer to this world body as being democratic,” he said.

The latest exodus to Turkey is one of the largest on a single day since the start of the uprising against Syrian President Bashar alAssad began in March last year. UNHCR said 1,000 Syrians had also fled to Lebanon and another 1,000 to Jordan, swelling the overall total who are registered or being assisted in the region to 408,000. State-run Anatolian news agency said around 5,000 Syrians had crossed into Turkey’s Sanliurfa province overnight, flee-

ing fighting between rebels and Syrian government forces in the town of Ras al-Ain just across the border in Syria.

Syrian rebels and opposition sources said late on Thursday Free Syrian Army fighters had captured Ras al-Ain, an Arab and Kurdish town in the northeastern oil-producing province of Hasaka, but continuing clashes have been reported there. Anatolian said 71 military officers, including two generals, had defected to Turkey overnight, marking the biggest mass desertion of senior soldiers from Assad’s forces in months.

The officers, among them two generals, 11 colonels, two lieutenant-colonels, two majors, four captains, and five lieutenants, crossed into the border province of Hatay with their families and other soldiers, making a total of 71 people.

They were taken to Apaydin camp in Hatay, where Turkey is sheltering other officers who have defected from Assad’s army. Defections of

high-ranking officers to Turkey occurred almost daily during the summer but have since slowed.

Relations between Ankara and Damascus, once close allies, are now as frosty as at any time since the Syrian revolt began.

Turkey has responded in kind to mortar shells hitting its soil from fighting in Syria and is discussing with its NATO allies whether to deploy Patriot defence missiles on the border.

Turkey is becoming increasingly concerned about security on its border with Syria and has summoned its NATO allies twice this year over the issue, saying the alliance had a duty to protect its own frontier.

The Turkish chief-of-staff has said his troops would respond “with greater force” if shells continued to land in Turkey. Last month parliament authorised the deployment of troops beyond Turkey but Ankara is reluctant to take any unilateral military action inside Syria. — Reuters

INTERNATIONAL

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2012

Palestinian farmers turn to organic farming NUS JUBAIL: The Palestinian olive harvest, an ancient autumn ritual in the West Bank, is going upscale. In an emerging back-to-the-land movement, Palestinian farmers are turning the rocky hills of the West Bank into organic olive groves, selling their oil to high-end grocers in the U.S. and Europe. The move is a reflection of the growing global demand for natural, sustainable and fairly traded products, albeit with a distinct Palestinian twist.

The hardships faced by local farmers, ranging from a lack of rainfall to Israeli trade obstacles, mean that organic growing is one of the few ways Palestinians have to compete in outside markets.

“The Palestinian future is in the land,” said farmer Khader Khader, 31, as he stood among his organic olives in the northern West Bank village of Nus Jubail. Organic farming has grown into a thriving business, by Palestinian standards, since it first was introduced in the West Bank in 2004. Now, at least $5 million worth of organic olive oil is exported annually - about half of all Palestinian commercial oil exports, said Nasser Abu Farha of the Canaan Fair Trade Association, one of the companies that sells high-end organic olive oil to distributors abroad. The West Bank-based company purchases the oil at above market prices and pays what’s called a “social premium” extra money to farming cooperatives to improve their communities.

About 930 farmers have fair-trade and organic certification, while another 140 are “converting” their land - a

two- to three-year process during which they stop using chemical fertilizers and pest controls while monitors from Canaan and the Palestine Fair Trade Association provide training and check soil for chemical levels.

Their work is overseen by the Swiss-based Institute for Market Ecology, which is accredited to certify organic products for the U.S., E.U., and Japan. Hundreds more farmers are simply certified as fair-trade, where they and their workers are paid decent wages for their work and produce.

The trade is tiny when compared to major olive growers like Spain, Italy and Greece. But it’s significant for Palestinians, for whom harvesting olives is a cultural tradition that gathers even the most urbanized families.

An average of 17,000 tons of olive oil is produced in the West Bank every year by thousands of farmers, according to aid group Oxfam, which works on the olive industry. Most is for local or personal use, and only about 1,000 tons is exported a year, though that number is likely higher since many farmers sell oil informally through relatives abroad, Abu Farha said.

Organic farmers hope the high-end trade will keep them on their lands, despite difficult odds and high overhead costs. Palestinians seek the West Bank as the heartland of a future independent state. Most of the 2.5 million Palestinians in the West Bank live under a semiautonomous government. But Israel, which captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war, wields overall con-

trol. Roughly 500,000 Jewish settlers live in the West Bank and neighboring east Jerusalem, taking away resources.

More than 120 Jewish settlements dot the West Bank, often encroaching on Palestinian farmlands or preventing farmers from reaching their land. Israel’s separation barrier, built to prevent militants from entering Israel, has swallowed nearly 10 percent of Palestinian farmland, according to U.N. estimates, limiting access and lowering yields. Israel also controls more than 80 percent of the West Bank’s water in lopsided sharing agreements, said Palestinian water official Ribhi al-Sheik. In other areas dilapidated water pipes have wasteful leaks. Most farmers depend on rain and unlicensed wells, depleting alreadystressed aquifers. In some parts, Israeli military authorities also ban rain-collecting cisterns. Badly planned Palestinian towns have paved over fertile lands.

Outside markets for fresh produce aren’t profitable.

Goods must cross through Israeli-controlled export crossings, causing delays and lowering quality through exposure to sunlight and constant reloading from one truck to another. Israeli military spokesman Guy Inbar said the long export process was solely for security reasons and “not intended to harm” exports, noting that Palestinians export some 100,000 tons of fresh produce a year. He said Palestinians access more water than what is allowed for under sharing agreements and that farmers with permits are able to reach land on the other side of the separation barrier. — AP

Barak pledges response to Gaza tunnel blast ‘This tunnel is one of the most important discoveries’

BASRA: In this photo taken on Sunday, Nov. 4, 2012, Hazim Sharif escorts his daughters to school in Basra, 340 miles (550 kilometers) southeast of Baghdad, Iraq. The crimes were particularly brutal, even by the standards of a country where insurgents can still kill dozens in single day. — AP

Child rapes, killings terrify parents in Iraq BASRA: The brutal crimes struck a nerve, even in a country that has seen a horrific amount of bloodshed in the past decade: Young Iraqi girls kidnapped, repeatedly raped and then bludgeoned to death in two separate incidents near the southern city of Basra.

Despite a conviction in one case, a handful of arrests in the other and beefed up police patrols in the city, families in Basra remain on edge following the murders of 4-year-old Banin Haider and 5-yearold Abeer Ali in a span of less than two months.

Now, many parents in and around the city won’t let their children go to school alone or even play outside after class is out, fearing their daughters, too, could be snatched off the streets, sexually abused and murdered. Others are making plans to leave Basra altogether, saying they have lost confidence in the security forces’ ability to keep children safe. “These inhuman crimes make me think of the safety of my children,” said Hazim Sharif, 38, a government employee and father of four. “I do not trust the security forces any more. I have to protect my family by myself.”

To many in Iraq, the murders mark a new, more menacing type of violence than the country has previously encountered - at least in public. Basra, Iraq’s second-largest city, is considerably safer than Baghdad, and the recent attacks are seen as a particularly dark spot on an otherwise relatively quiet and stable province. —AP

JERUSALEM: Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak blamed Hamas yesterday for the detonation of an explosives tunnel along the Gaza border which wounded a soldier, and said he was mulling how and when to respond.

The blast, which was claimed by the armed wing of the ruling Islamist Hamas movement, took place several hours after a Palestinian teenager was shot dead by troops in the same area, just east of the southern city of Khan Yunis, Palestinian medical officials and witnesses said.

“Israel views with great seriousness the detonation of an explosive tunnel along the border with the Gaza Strip, south of Kissufim,” he said in a statement issued by his office early on Friday, just hours after the blast struck.

“Defence Minister Barak said that Israel sees Hamas as responsible for the incident and will examine how and when to respond.” The Israeli military said the blast had thrown an army vehicle 20 metres (66 feet) into the air, although no one was inside it at the time.

“During routine activity just inside the security fence, there was a large explosion that caused a vehicle to be thrown into the air. Luckily no one was in the vehicle at the time,” a spokesman said.

A nearby soldier suffered minor injuries, probably from shrapnel, the spokesman said. Military spokeswoman Avital Leibovich said the blast had “left a crater which was five metres (17 feet) deep and four metres (13 feet) wide.”

“This tunnel is one of the most important discoveries in recent years. It contained a huge quantity of explosives,” she told reporters late on Thursday. She said a group of soldiers had gone some 200 metres

(yards) into Gaza territory in order to dismantle explosive devices in the sector and were about to return when the blast hit.

“The explosion took place as the soldiers were getting ready to go back and fix a section of the fence which had been damaged,” she said. “A military vehicle was thrown 20 metres into the air by the explosion.”

The blast was claimed in a statement by Hamas militants from the Ezzedine alQassam Brigades who said they were responsible for “an attack with explosives which wounded a Zionist soldier.”

Several hours earlier, Hmeid Abu Daqqa, 13, was killed by bullets fired from an Israeli helicopter in the same area, health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra told AFP. “Thirteen-year-old Hmeid Yunes Abu Daqqa was killed by bullets fired from an Israeli heli-

copter during an incursion in Abasan and AlQarara,” he said, referring to two neighbourhoods east of Khan Yunis.

Witnesses confirmed that Israeli helicopters had opened fire as tanks carried out an incursion, sparking a brief exchange of fire with militants. A military spokesman on Friday confirmed troops had been operating in the area and had fired “towards open areas in the vicinity” after coming under attack by gunmen.

“During a routine activity west of Nirim, troops found a number of explosive devices and detonated them in a controlled manner.

As a result of earlier fire toward them, they fired towards open areas in the vicinity,” he said. He refused to confirm or deny whether a helicopter had been involved in the incident.—AFP

KUFR QADDUM: Israeli soldiers run during a Palestinian protest against the expansion of the nearby Jewish settlement of Kdumim in the northern West Bank village of Kufr Qaddum, near Nablus, yesterday. — AP

INTERNATIONAL

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2012

Balkan asylum seekers come under suspicion BUJANOVAC: Azra Ajeti’s fellow Gypsies have been buffeted by accusations of filing bogus asylum claims in the rich EU, but she says there’s nothing phony about her family’s life of misery. “We are starving,” said the woman from this impoverished southern Serbian town. “Life here is a disgrace.”

Ajeti’s son was among some 60,000 people from Serbia and other Balkan countries who have sought asylum in Western Europe since the EU allowed visa-free travel from their nations three years ago. Many EU and local officials describe the exodus as little more than a fraud in which mostly Gypsy migrants cross over knowing their asylum requests have no chance, their main goal to obtain the food, lodging and, in some cases, living expenses worth hundreds of euros (dollars) per month they are entitled to while awaiting an answer.

As a result of the continued surge, the EU states with the most Balkan asylum requests Germany, Sweden, Belgium, the Netherlands, France and Luxembourg - are moving toward

re-imposing visas for Serbia and Macedonia, the two countries that send the most asylum applicants. Many seekers, however, cite racial discrimination in their home countries as the reason for their flight, saying it constitutes legitimate grounds for asylum.

“Everybody wants to leave,” Ajeti said while selling old clothes that she picked out of garbage cans on the dusty streets of Bujanovac. “If I had money for a bus ticket, I would pack up and go right this instant.”

She said she deserves asylum because she has not received promised social aid - some euro 100 a month for her 18-member family for the last five months. She also says police chase her from the dirt pavement where she sells her merchandize, “only because we are Gypsies.” Her son’s asylum bid in Sweden was rejected earlier this year and now he’s back home. Here, like in much of the Balkans, Roma live in makeshift settlements made of cardboard homes, sometimes facing harassment from right-wing extremist groups. They mostly live from begging or humanitarian

aid, and on the little money they earn collecting scrap metal and other material from garbage dumps. “Call them fake or real asylum seekers,” said Galip Beqiri, a local ethnic Albanian party leader, “these people are leaving not because they are happy but because they are desperate.” EU states reject 99 percent of Balkan demands for asylum, ruling that the applicants do not fulfill the criteria of being politically, ethnically or religiously persecuted. But while their requests are under review, asylum seekers are allowed to stay in the countries where they are seeking a haven - eating up funds that could help those in perhaps more dire straits, such as asylum seekers from Syria, Afghanistan or Iraq.

“It is unacceptable that we have two times as many asylum applicants from Serbia than from Afghanistan,” Ole Schroeder, secretary of state in the German interior ministry, recently told reporters.

Serbia’s border police chief, Nenad Banovic, was also highly critical of the Balkan exodus: “Asylum has become a profession.”

He added that those who are rejected in one EU country often go to another where they start the process all over again.

Part of the problem is a lengthy asylum review procedure in many EU countries.

Germany has become the most popular country for Balkan asylum seekers because it provides unusually generous living expenses and spends the longest time processing applications - up to 14 months.

The Brussels-based European Stability Initiative, a think tank which has closely monitored the Balkan asylum seekers, said in a recent report that a key reason most asylum seekers now choose Germany is because this summer its Constitutional Court, under pressure from rights groups, increased monthly benefits from ?120 ($155) for a four-member family to euro 420 ($550) - more than the average monthly salary in most of the Balkans. If the asylum seekers buy their own food and clothing - instead of relying on EU handouts - that sum increases to euro 1,100 ($1,400). —AP

Snowy post-Sandy storm pulls away from East Coast Sandy killed over 100 people in 10 states

MOSCOW: Russia’s President Vladimir Putin (C) meets Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu (L) and newly appointed Army chief of staff Gen. Valery Gerasimov (R) in the Kremlin in Moscow, yesterday. Putin replaced today Russia’s Army chief of staff Nikolai Makarov, with Valery Gerasimov, a veteran commander from the second Chechnya war, as part of a new shake-up in the armed forces. — AFP

Putin replaces Russia army chief in military shake-up MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin yesterday replaced Russia’s army chief of staff with a veteran commander from the second Chechnya war, in a shake-up of the military after the sacking of the defence minister.

Army chief of staff Nikolai Makarov has been replaced by General Valery Gerasimov, a commander from the second Chechnya war, Putin announced days after the sacking of defence minister Anatoly Serdyukov in a graft scandal.

“You are an experienced person,” Putin told Gerasimov in a meeting at the Kremlin that also included the new Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu. “I believe the minister has picked the right candidate and I hope that you will work to the best of your abilities and efficiently.”

The chief of staff is one of three people in Russia with exclusive access to nuclear launch codes. The other two are the president and the defence minister. Shoigu described Gerasimov-who served as first deputy chief of staff between 2010 and 2012 — as a “military man from head to toe.”

He added that Gerasimov enjoyed respect in the army and had “colossal experience working both at the general staff” as well as “in the field.” A career officer, 57-year-old Gerasimov also served as the commander of the 58th army in the North Caucasus military district in the late 90s and commanded Russian troops in the second war against separatists in Chechnya.

Analysts said the replacement of the army chief of staff was widely expected in the wake of the dramatic departure earlier this week of Serdyukov. “His appointment is in line with a classic tradition-a new boss appoints new people so that they feel dutybound to him,” said military analyst Alexander Golts. —AFP

NEW YORK: The nor’easter that stymied recovery efforts after Superstorm Sandy pulled away from New York and New Jersey, leaving hundreds of thousands of new people in darkness after a blanket of thick, wet snow snapped storm-weakened trees and downed power lines.

Meanwhile, New York imposed a gas rationing plan yesterday that allows motorists to fill up every other day.

Sandy slammed the coast and inflicted tens of billions of dollars in damage, and hundreds of thousands of customers in New York and New Jersey were still waiting for the electricity to come back on, with lots of cold and tired people are losing patience.

If that wasn’t enough, the nor’easter then brought gusting winds, rain and snow on Wednesday, though not the flooding that was anticipated. Snow blanketed several states and stymied recovery efforts spawned by Sandy as storm-weakened trees snapped and power lines came down before the nor’easter pulled away.

A new gasoline rationing plan was put in place starting today that lets motorists fill up every other day. Police will be at gas stations to enforce the new system in New York City and on Long Island.

“This is designed to let everybody have a fair chance, so the lines aren’t too oppressive and that we can get through this,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.

Bloomberg said the system worked well in New Jersey, where lines went from a twohour wait to 45 minutes after Gov. Chris Christie announced a similar rationing plan. Meanwhile, some who have been without power are demanding investigations of utilities they say aren’t working fast enough. An angry New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo joined the calls for an investigation, ripping the utilities as unprepared and badly managed.

“Privately I have used language my daughters couldn’t hear,” he fumed. He added: “It’s unacceptable the longer it goes on because the longer it goes on, people’s suffering is worse.” The power companies

NEW YORK: Veronica Ravenell, far right, walks with her son Matthew, 9, who has been relocated from IS 188, damaged in Superstorm Sandy, to the Joseph B. Cavallaro School, also called Intermediate School 281, Thursday in New York. — AP have said they are dealing with damage unprecedented in its scope and doing the best they can. And there is no denying the magnitude of what they have done: At the peak, more than 8.5 million homes and businesses across 21 states lost power. As of Thursday, that was down to about 750,000, almost entirely in New York and New Jersey.

The nor’easter knocked out power to more than 200,000 customers in New York and New Jersey, erasing some of the progress made by utility crews. “We lost power last week, just got it back for a day or two, and now we lost it again,” said John Monticello of Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey. “Every day it’s the same now: Turn on the gas burner for heat. Instant coffee. Use the iPad to find out what’s going on in the rest of the world.”

New Jersey did not have a damage estimate of its own, but others have put Sandy’s overall toll at up to $50 billion, making it the second-most expensive storm in US history, behind Hurricane

Katrina, which swamped New Orleans in 2005. Sandy killed more than 100 people in 10 states, with most of the dead in New York and New Jersey. In a reminder of Katrina, the Federal Emergency Management Agency announced Thursday that it is moving manufactured housing into New York and New Jersey.

FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate said the disaster relief agency has several hundred mobile homes in its inventory of emergency supplies and has started moving some of them to disaster zone. He said it is unclear yet if FEMA will need to order more of the temporary homes.

Forty prefabricated homes were en route to a staging area in New Jersey, FEMA officials said. State officials in New Jersey and New York will decide where the houses will be placed, federal officials said.

More than 56,000 people have also been ruled eligible for FEMA’s individual and households program, which provides money for renting a new place or housing repairs. —AP

INTERNATIONAL

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2012

Texas executes man for killing woman in 2002 HUNTSVILLE: A man described as a fledgling serial killer by prosecutors was executed Thursday in Texas for a woman’s slaying during a break-in at her home a decade ago. Mario Swain, 33, received lethal injection for killing Lola Nixon, 46, at her home in East Texas’ Longview two days after Christmas in 2002. Evidence showed he threw her body into the trunk of her BMW, drove to a remote area outside of the city about 120 miles east of Dallas and dumped it in the back seat of an abandoned car.

Swain was asked by a warden if he had a final statement before his punishment. The condemned prisoner shook his head, closed his eyes and took several barely audible breaths.

Within a moment, all movement stopped. He was pronounced dead 30 minutes later, at 6:39 pm CST.

Swain’s attorney, James Volberding, said no late attempts were made in the courts to block the execution, the 13th this year in the nation’s busiest capital punishment state. The US Supreme Court last month refused to review the case, and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals last week rejected an appeal that contended a prison expert’s testimony during the sentencing phase of Swain’s 2003 capital murder trial was false and misleading.

Swain declined media interview requests as his execution date neared.

Nixon was supposed to go to dinner with friends that Friday night after Christmas but didn’t show up. When she couldn’t be reached the next day, friends called police who found the back door of her home jimmied and blood throughout the place. A neigh-

bor who saw an unfamiliar truck parked on the street the previous night reported that to police and the truck was tracked to Swain.

He initially blamed friends for the burglary, then led police to Nixon’s body. Authorities determined she’d been beaten with a tire iron, stabbed and strangled. The tire iron was recovered from a trash container where Swain said he had thrown it.

Evidence showed he used Nixon’s credit cards and gave a piece of her stolen jewelry to a friend. Nixon’s blood was found on Swain’s clothing in the truck, along with her car keys and garage door opener.

According to evidence and testimony at trial, Swain would gather information about women he wanted to rob and then attack them, forcing them to inhale the anesthetic

halothane and hitting them over the head with a wrench or shooting them with a stun gun. Lance Larison, a prosecutor at Swain’s trial, called Swain “a serial killer in training.” “A girlfriend told us he kept a list in notebooks of names and license plates of girls he would follow,” Larison said. “I think he was working up to something.”

It’s not clear if Swain knew Nixon.

She managed a Longview telephone call center where Swain once worked.

One of Swain’s trial lawyers, Rick Hagan, said the evidence and vivid testimony from those who say Swain robbed them hindered the defense’s efforts to convince jurors to spare Swain from the death penalty.

Larson said blood evidence in the case was “consistent with a struggle” inside Nixon’s home, where she lived alone. — AP

Obama campaign says it won Florida race ‘Obama will end with 332 electoral votes’

MEXICO CITY: A woman wearing an Argentina’s national soccer team jersey bangs a pot during a protest against Argentina’s President Cristina Fernandez outside the Argentinean Consulate in Mexico City, Thursday. — AP

Argentines flood streets in anti-government protest BUENOS AIRES: Hundreds of thousands of Argentines flooded the streets of the country’s biggest cities on Thursday in a broad protest against President Cristina Fernandez’s interventionist policies and combative style.

The center-left leader won easy re-election a year ago but her approval ratings have slid since. Her government has virtually banned dollar purchases and it limited imports this year, worsening a steep economic slowdown.

High crime, inflation of roughly 25 percent a year, and a possible bid by government allies to reform the constitution to allow Fernandez to run for a third term are also stoking unrest, particularly among middle-class Argentines. “We’ve taken to the streets because we’re sick of crime and having our pockets picked. Inflation is killing us, our pensions can’t keep up,” said Daniel Gonzalez, 70, a retired teacher. Thursday’s pot-banging protests conjured memories of the demonstrations staged by angry savers, housewives and students during Argentina’s 2001-02 economic and political crisis.

Protesters in neighborhoods throughout Buenos Aires waved signs demanding freedom, transparency and an end to crime and corruption. A spokesman for the city’s Justice and Security Ministry estimated 700,000 people were rallying in the capital. A similar, smaller protest was staged just two months ago. Local television showed rallies in other cities, including Rosario, Cordoba and Salta.

The demonstrations were organized through social media and not by any one political party. Some Argentines even took to the streets abroad with hundreds of demonstrators gathering outside the country’s consulates in Italy, Spain and the United States. “We’re protesting against Cristina’s government so she listens to us. — Reuters

MIAMI: US President Barack Obama’s top aide in Florida said Democrats have won the vote in the officially undeclared Sunshine State, where officials are under fire for mishandling the ballot. Obama in the end did not need the biggest swing state as he won enough states across the country to romp to a decisive electoral college victory in Tuesday’s election, but his team believes they triumphed in any case.

“On behalf of Florida Democrats, I wish President Barack Obama congratulations on his re-election and on winning Florida’s 29 electoral college votes,” Florida Democrats chair Rod Smith said in a statement Thursday.

In the 2000 presidential election, the close Florida race led to a weekslong standoff that was eventually decided by the Supreme Court, which ruled in favor of George W. Bush despite his losing the nationwide popular vote.

Mitt Romney’s senior campaign adviser in Florida hinted earlier that the Republican presidential challenger lost the state, where the result has yet to be announced more than two days after the election.

Electoral officials have said all vote returns must be completed no later than Saturday, but the statement from Romney’s campaign published in the Miami Herald suggested his team had already accepted defeat.

“The numbers in Florida show this was winnable. We thought based on our polling and range of organization that we had done what we needed to win,” senior campaign adviser Brett Doster said in the statement.

“Obviously, we didn’t, and for that I and every other operative in Florida has a sick feeling that we left some-

thing on the table,” he added. Obama campaign manager Jim Messina said he was confident the president would be declared the victor.

The campaign’s voter model continues to show that Obama “will hold that lead and end with 332 electoral votes,” Messina said. In the state-bystate electoral college system, 270 votes are needed for victory, and Obama already has 303, with Florida’s 29 still outstanding.

Votes are still being counted in three of Florida’s 67 counties, said Chris Cate, a spokesman for the state government. “Counties are required to report their results to us by Saturday at noon,” he told AFP. In 2000 Democratic Vice President Al Gore, who won the US popular vote, lost the election to Bush, who tri-

umphed under the electoral college system when a divided US Supreme Court stopped a ballot recount in Florida.

Republicans control both houses in Florida’s state legislature and the governor’s mansion, but a growing Hispanic and more liberal population are pushing the electorate toward Obama’s Democrats.

Florida Deputy Elections Supervisor Christina White blamed the vote count delay on an unusually long ballot and a high voter turnout.

“It’s not that there were any problems or glitches. It’s about volume and paper left to be processed,” she said.

But at least two Florida vote experts saw the chaos as the result of a bare-knuckled Republican attempt to suppress turnout. — AFP

FLORIDA: Patrick Murphy, the Democratic candidate for Florida’s 18th Congressional District, talks to supporters during a “thank you” tour of his district, Thursday in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. Election Day has come and gone and Republican Rep. Allen West is still fighting for votes — in the courtroom. — AP

INTERNATIONAL

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2012

60 countries expected at Tokyo-Syria meet TOKYO: Japan said yesterday around 150 delegates from some 60 countries are expected to attend an international conference in Tokyo this month aimed at pressuring the regime of Syrian President Bashar alAssad.

It will bring together senior government officials from “Friends of Syria Group” countries supporting the Syrian opposition and seeking to ratchet up pressure on the Assad regime, a foreign ministry official said.

The Friends of Syria Group has previously

organised four such meetings-in Paris in April, Washington in June, Doha in July and The Hague in September, the official said.

“Some 150 participants from some 60 countries participated in the previous meetings and we expect a similar size this time as well,” the foreign ministry official said.

Further details of the meeting, including the date, will be announced soon. Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura said on Monday: “The meeting is aimed at broadening the range of countries taking part in

sanctions and enhancing the effectiveness of pressure on the Syrian government.”

Tokyo imposed a freeze on assets held in Japan by the Syrian president and military leaders in September last year, in concert with European countries and the United States. Tokyo has also banned chartered flights from Syria since July. Syria’s foreign ministry on Thursday lashed out at the planned meeting, according to state television, and demanded Tokyo call it off, saying sanctions were hurting the Syrian people.

But the Tokyo official said the Japanese government will go ahead with the forum as scheduled. A government source in Morocco told AFP Thursday that a Syrian opposition meeting could be held there if the conditions were right.

Conflict erupted in Syria in March 2011 when Assad’s forces moved to crush proreform protests, triggering an armed uprising. More than 36,000 people have been killed, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. — AFP

Australia to sign up for Kyoto 2 ‘Australia ready to join a second commitment period’

WEST SULAWESI: An Indonesian man carries a body of a child killed in a flash flood at Batanguru village in West Sulawesi province, Indonesia, yesterday. Days of torrential rain triggered a landslide and flash floods on Indonesia’s Sulawesi island, killing at least 10 people and leaving 20 others missing, police said yesterday. — AP

Malaysian charged with Facebook insult of sultan KUALA LUMPUR: The sister of a Malaysian man who has been charged with insulting a state sultan on Facebook said yesterday that he is innocent and will lodge a complaint over his detention.

Anisa Abdul Jalil said her brother Ahmad Abdul Jalil was charged Thursday with making offensive postings on Facebook last month. But she said there is no evidence linking Ahmad to the posts in question, which were made by someone using the name “Zul Yahaya.”

“This is ridiculous as they have failed to build a case against him. We are very angry. It is a dirty game and an abuse of power, an abuse of the court process,” Anisa told the Associated Press.

Ahmad was freed on bail Thursday after six days of detention, during which he was denied access to lawyers and family members.Anisa said Ahmad told the family that police tried to force a confession from him but he stood firm. She said Ahmad will file a complaint with police for unlawful detention and intimidation. Defense lawyer Fadiah Nadwa Fitri said they would appeal to throw out the charges against Ahmad when the case is next heard Nov. 28.

The posts in question were directed at Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar of southern Johor state. Fadiah said that according to the charge sheet, the postings likened the sultan’s skin and behavior to that of a pig, which is viewed as a dirty animal in Islam.

“The charges are unfounded. Ahmad is vocal and is critical about political matter but he didn’t write the postings.

It seems that Ahmad is being prosecuted for exercising his rights,” Fadiah said. Ahmad faces up to a year in jail if convicted, she added.

Nine Malaysian states have sultans and other royal figures. Though their roles are largely ceremonial, they command wide respect after centuries of hereditary rule.

Under Malaysian law, acts that provoke hatred against royal rulers are considered seditious. Only a few people have been charged with the crime in recent years. — AP

SYDNEY: Key greenhouse gas emitter Australia yesterday said it was ready to sign up for a second round of the Kyoto Protocol environmental protection treaty, and urged other countries to do the same.

Climate Minister Greg Combet made the announcement in a speech to a carbon expo, saying: “Australia is ready to join a second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol”.

Australia is among the world’s worst per capita polluters, with a heavy reliance on coal mining and exports and most of its electricity coming from coal-fired power stations.

Although Kyoto-the first global treaty to set binding obligations on wealthy countries to cut emissions-was negotiated in 1997, Australia refused to join for years. It was only when Labor came to power in 2007 that it shifted course, with Kevin Rudd formally entering the treaty as one of his first acts after becoming prime minister.

Combet’s announcement comes ahead of annual negotiations under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which this year take place in Doha, Qatar, from November 26-December 7. The big issue is renewing commitments under Kyoto after the first round of cuts expires on December 31, although agreement on a new globallybinding deal is not expected until 2015 and will not come into force until 2020. Combet said Australia’s decision was not a blank cheque and other countries must also step up.

“For Australia, there must be continued progress towards this new agreement by 2015, from both the developing and developed countries alike,” he said. “The Kyoto Protocol is not enough on its own-it will cover less than 15 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions and only from a number of developed economies.

“So to be effective, the new 2015 agreement needs to cover all the major emissions sources.” He added: “From 2020 we expect all countries-including the United States, the European Union, China, Japan, India, Indonesia and South Korea-will be part of a new agreement to reduce emissions. “This will bring all countries onto the same legal platform to reduce emissions.” Almost immediately, New Zealand said it was not signing up for the second round, but denied it was withdrawing from Kyoto.

New Zealand Climate Change Minister Tim Groser said the country had opted to instead manage its emissions under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change,

which does not include binding commitments. Kyoto is a talisman for developing countries, but more and more developed nations say it is unfair because its binding emissions targets do not affect emerging giants such as China, India and Brazil. Combet said Australia also wanted conditions to be met in Doha, including access to the Kyoto market mechanisms, such as the Clean Development Mechanism, from January 1, 2013 and the need for existing land sector rules to continue. This would ensure Australian businesses have access to international credits under the Clean Development Mechanism, helping reduce emissions at the lowest cost to the economy. —AFP

LONDON: A handout picture taken on November 7, 2012, and obtained in London yesterday, shows injured 15-year-old Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai reading a book at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham in central England. — AFP

Australian woman freed on Malaysia drug charges KUALA LUMPUR: An Australian nurse who faced the death penalty after being accused of drug trafficking was freed yesterday by a Malaysian court after prosecutors dropped the charges.

Emma Louise L’Aiguille, 34, was charged in a Kuala Lumpur court in July along with a Nigerian man, Anthony Esikalam Ndidi, after police arrested them for allegedly possessing one kilo (2.2 pounds) of methamphetamines. Drug trafficking carries a mandatory death sentence by hanging in Malaysia, where hundreds of people are on death

row, mostly for drug offences. Anyone found to be in possession of at least 50 grams of methamphetamine is considered a trafficker. L’Aiguille, from Melbourne, was in a car with her co-defendant when police swooped and found drugs in the vehicle.

Her lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah said the defence had argued that L’Aiguille had no knowledge of the drugs in the vehicle. “The charges against her have been dropped by the prosecutors. She is a free woman now. She is somewhere in the city,” he told AFP. Shafee said that L’Aiguille was

freed on the condition that she remains in the country and obtains prior permission to travel abroad because prosecutors may require further evidence from her.

Another Australian, Dominic Jude Christopher Bird, 32, was charged with trafficking methamphetamines in March. The case is still before the courts. Since 1960, more than 440 people have been executed in Malaysia, including two Australians put to death in 1986 for heroin trafficking-the first Westerners to be executed under tough new anti-drug laws. — AFP

INTERNATIONAL

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2012

Ageing Chinese leaders retain huge influence BEIJING: When China’s ranking communists file into the Great Hall of the People, you can spot the invited guests, the retired but still-influential men in their 70s, 80s and even 90s: Most of them no longer dye their hair the requisite jet black of Beijing’s working leaders. These men typically have no official posts anymore but continue to make their preferences known. They work behind the scenes to promote their proteges and allies to top posts on the party’s Politburo.

Foremost among them is ex-President Jiang Zemin, who watched Thursday’s opening of a pivotal Communist Party congress through enormous glasses. An aide helped him to his seat next to outgoing President Hu Jintao.

In the off-stage machinations to stack the lineup of China’s new leadership to be announced late next week, these old-timers are hard at work.

“The role of the elders in the informal selection of Politburo members continues to be crucial,” said Jonathan Holslag, a research fellow at the Institute for Contemporary China Studies at the University of Brussels. “Especially in times of domestic stress, I expect this clan politics to make it more difficult to reform.”

Among those front and center at this week’s congress was 95-year-old veteran revolutionary and communist kingmaker Song Ping, on whose recommendation Hu had been elevated to the

Politburo standing committee at the remarkably young age of 49.

Song, who wore a high-collared Mao suit, frequently dozed off during Thursday’s proceedings. The clout of Song and Jiang reflects the party’s traditional deference to its elders, but also its lack of transparency and failure to institutionalize its succession processes through open elections or other steps. The power of the elders, a largely conservative group, is also seen as inhibiting reforms that might erode their influence or harm their economic interests in the state-controlled economy. Ensuring the promotion of proteges burnishes the credentials of retired leaders, ensures them some say in affairs of state, and perhaps most importantly - protects them and their families from being investigated over corruption or other improprieties committed while in office. The practice of elders exercising influence behind the scenes was established by Deng Xiaoping, who remained paramount leader even after relinquishing his official titles. In one of the most famous instances, Bo Yibo, one of the party’s “eight immortals,” intervened in 1998 to oust a Jiang rival, Qiao Shi. In return, Jiang for a while became the protector of Bo’s son, Bo Xilai, paying back the favor by making him governor of the northeastern province of Liaoning.—AP

BEIJING: A Chinese family make their way at Tiananmen Square during the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in Beijing yesterday. Vice President Xi Jinping had moved closer to taking the reins of power and is expected to replace President Hu Jintao as party chief in a once-a-decade power transition, setting the stage for his promotion to president of the world’s most populous nation, expected by March 2013. — AFP

Obama to make landmark visit to Myanmar this month Tour to include stops in Thailand and Cambodia YANGON/WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama will become the first US leader to visit Myanmar this month, the strongest international endorsement of the fragile democratic transition in the Southeast Asian country after half a century of military rule.

Obama will travel to Myanmar during a Nov. 17-20 tour of Southeast Asia that will also take in Thailand and Cambodia, the White House said on Thursday, confirming his first international trip since he won a second term in Tuesday’s election. He is going ahead with the trip despite recent sectarian violence in western Myanmar that has drawn concern from the United States and European Union.

UN human rights investigators have criticised the quasi-civilian government’s handling of the strife between Buddhists and minority Muslims, and some Myanmar exiles see Obama’s trip as premature before political reforms have been consolidated.

The visit to Myanmar, the first by a sitting US president, will give Obama a chance to meet President Thein Sein and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to encourage the “ongoing democratic transition”, White House spokesman Jay Carney said.

Suu Kyi spent years in detention under the military as the figurehead of the movement

for democracy. She was elected to parliament in April, when her National League for Democracy (NLD) ran in by-elections after boycotting a 2010 poll.

Obama will be in Myanmar on Nov. 19, according to a senior government source in Yangon, where people expressed delight. “I believe it is a clear sign of improved ties between the two countries and I am very glad that our NLD party played an important role in working for the emergence of this situation,” said NLD executive committee member Han Tha Myint. Myint Soe, vice-chairman of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry, said the historic visit showed Myanmar had now been admitted into the international community. “It’s good for President Obama to see things with his own eyes,” he said. “I would like to request him to keep encouraging the democratisation process in our country by helping to promote the socioeconomic standards of the people.”

Obama’s presence in Myanmar, also known as Burma, will highlight what his administration sees as a first-term foreign policy achievement and a development that could help counter China’s influence in a strategically important region.

Washington takes some credit for a carrot-

CHICAGO: President Barack Obama wipes away tears as he thanks members of his campaign staff and volunteers in Chicago after the election. — AP

and-stick approach that pushed Myanmar’s long-ruling generals toward democratic change and led to Thein Sein taking office as a reformist president in 2011.

But Obama also risks criticism for rewarding the new government too soon, especially after security forces failed to prevent bloody ethnic violence in the west of the country. At least 89 people were killed in the recent clashes between Buddhist Rakhines and minority Muslim Rohingyas. Many thousands more have been displaced by the violence.

The US Campaign for Burma, an exile group, said Obama’s trip could “undermine the democracy activists and ethnic minorities”, but added that if the president was intent on going, he should broaden his agenda to include meetings with the still-powerful military and an address to parliament.

A senior administration official said Obama, who will also speak to civil society groups, was “acutely aware” of concerns about human rights, ethnic violence and political prisoners in Myanmar and would address those issues during his visit.

The United States eased sanctions on Myanmar this year in recognition of the political and economic change under way, and many U.S. companies are looking at starting operations in the country located between China and India, with its abundant resources and low-cost labour.

In November 2011, Hillary Clinton became the first U.S. secretary of state to visit Myanmar in more than 50 years. Obama has sought to consolidate ties and reinforce US influence across Asia in what has been dubbed a policy “pivot” toward the region as wars in Iraq and Afghanistan wind down.

Myanmar grew close to China during decades of isolation, reinforced by Western sanctions over its poor human rights record, but is now seeking to expand relations with the West. Obama met Suu Kyi, a fellow Nobel Peace Prize laureate, on her visit to the United States in September. —Reuters

Australia inquiry into church child-sex cover-up claims SYDNEY: The Australian state of New South Wales yesterday announced a special inquiry to look into claims the Catholic Church covered up for paedophile priests, silenced investigations and destroyed evidence.

The inquiry, announced by state Premier Barry O’Farrell, will examine the allegations made by a senior police investigator who outlined his charges in a letter published in the Newcastle Herald newspaper.

It followed Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox criticising the O’Farrell government on national television for its failure to probe the alleged abuse by clergy in the Hunter Valley, 170 kilometres (105 miles) north of Sydney.

“Often the church knows but does nothing other than protect the paedophile and its own reputation,” Fox, who has been investigating sexual assaults for 35 years, said in the letter.

“I can testify from my own experience that the church covers up, silences victims, hinders police investigations, alerts offenders, destroys evidence and moves priests to protect the good name of the church.” Fox said he had “irrefutable” evidence, but had been ordered off the case by a superior officer. “There is an archbishop, a bishop and a priest that are implicated in a potential cover-up,” he said, adding that he was told to give all his material to other officers and then taken off the case.

He was not sure if he would face disciplinary action for publicly speaking out, but said: “I don’t care.”

O’Farrell said that while he had “full confidence” in the police force, the matters raised were serious.

“They go to the question about whether there has been interference, either within the police force, or by the Catholic Church, in relation to specific allegations of paedophile activity in the Hunter,” he told reporters.

“These matters have been raised by a senior serving officer and deserve to be fully investigated.” The New South Wales probe comes hot on the heels of a similar inquiry in Victoria state, in which the Catholic Church has denied claims by police that it covered up paedophilia and talked victims out of reporting sexual abuse.

While denying the cover-up allegation, the Victorian Catholic Church in September revealed that at least 620 children had been abused by its clergy since the 1930s.

That inquiry is ongoing. — AFP

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2012

INTERNATIONAL

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2012

S Lankan move to fire top judge stirs fears COLOMBO: When Shirani Bandaranayake was appointed Sri Lanka’s chief justice, rights campaigners assailed her as a puppet of a government that was steamrolling opponents and consolidating power. A year later, she is on the verge of becoming its latest victim.

In the wake of court challenges to government authority, the ruling party submitted an impeachment complaint in Parliament accusing her of unexplained wealth and misuse of power.

Opposition parties and independent analysts allege it is a naked attempt by President Mahinda Rajapaksa to cow the judiciary.

Rajapaksa’s ruling coalition, which controls more than the two-thirds of votes needed to impeach, is expected to pass the motion easily. After impeachment it would be up to the president to remove Bandaranayake.

The impeachment “is totally politically motivated,” said human rights lawyer and activist J.C. Weliamuna.

“The present regime has concentrated all legal powers and they are not prepared to even accept that the courts can give judgments controlling their power.” The US government has urged Sri Lanka to refrain from impinging on the judiciary’s independence. Sri Lankan lawyers have called for UN observers to monitor the impeachment proceedings.

Even the country’s conservative Buddhist monks have asked Rajapaksa to reconsider.

The impeachment complaint alleges Bandaranayake did not disclose how she obtained 19 million rupees ($146,000) to pay for a house purchased in an opaque real estate deal, and that she took over cases filed against a company involved in the deal after removing the judges who originally heard them. It accuses her of not declaring the contents of 20 bank accounts, and of misusing her position to harass other judges. It says her actions “plunged the Supreme Court and the office of chief justice into disrepute.” In a statement to Colombo’s Daily Mirror newspaper, the chief justice insisted she is innocent and will continue to work.

Government spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella appeared to signal that the impeachment proceedings were about far more than corruption allegations. Bandaranayake, he said, had overstepped her role and worked to undermine Parliament’s authority. He said the impeachment was brought because the dispute “had gone beyond the stage of settlement.”

Rajapaksa, at an event where he handed out free laptops and interestfree car loans to journalists, said the government did not intend to interfere

COLOMBO: In this Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2012 file photo, supporters of Sri Lanka’s ruling Alliance hold placards during a demonstration as lawmakers gather to discuss setting up a committee to investigate the charges against Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake in Colombo, Sri Lanka. — AP with the judiciary but insisted Parliament is duty-bound to check into complaints against the justice, according to a government news website.

The president has been accused of manipulating the judiciary to get convictions against his opponents. Sri Lanka’s former army commander Sarath Fonseka was convicted in a few cases since he challenged Rajapaksa in the 2010 presidential election.

Bandaranayake is an unlikely government foe. Her elevation to chief justice

No breakthrough in Afghan peace efforts before 2014 ‘No face-to-face talks have taken place’ KABUL: Afghanistan’s government has failed to secure direct talks with the Taleban and no significant progress is expected before 2014, when most NATO combat troops withdraw, a senior Afghan official closely involved with reconciliation efforts said yesterday.

“No breakthrough is expected before the 2014 election,” the official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity. A political settlement between the Afghan government and insurgents is widely seen as the best way of delivering stability to the country before most NATO combat troops pull out at the end of 2014.

Afghan officials were also hoping to make progress in reconciliation efforts before presidential elections in April of 2014 to decrease the chances of prolonged instability in a nation that has suffered through decades of war.

“There have been contacts here and there but no face-to-face talks have taken place,” the Afghan official said of the bid to engage the Taleban. “There have been none in Afghanistan or other countries.”

There has also been scant progress on other fronts. The Taleban said in March they were suspending nascent peace talks with the United States held in Qatar, blaming “erratic and vague” US statements. The Afghan official suggested the contacts that have been made with the Taliban have been limited. “The contacts have taken place mostly at the provincial level. For instance, an official may meet Taleban commanders and urge them not to attack schools,” he said.

Regional power Pakistan, which has a long history of ties to Afghan insurgent

NUSA DUA: Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (R) and Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai (L) pose for a photograph prior to a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the fifth Bali Democracy Forum in Nusa Dua yesterday. — AFP groups, was in a strong position to help stabilise Afghanistan but needed to do more than issue statements of support, said the official. Afghan officials have often seen Pakistan as a reluctant partner in attempts to broker talks with the Taleban. Islamabad denies accusations that it uses Afghan insurgent groups as proxies in Afghanistan and had pledged to do all it can to end the fighting.

“In practice, they need to facilitate faster,” said the official, adding that Afghanistan’s High Peace Council would soon present Pakistan with a roadmap on how it could help bring peace. In August,

senior officials from both countries said Afghan officials have held secret talks wit the Taleban’s former second in command, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, who is in detention in Pakistan.

Afghan officials, hopeful that direct contact with top Taleban commanders could give them the most leverage in any peace talks, want Islamabad to hand over Baradar and other Afghan Taliban leaders they say are in Pakistan.

“Mullah Baradar can be useful when he is released. He was the number two Taleban leader so he still has influence,” said the Afghan official. — Reuters

came months after she supported a ruling that said Rajapaksa needed only a parliamentary vote - not a national referendum - to amend the constitution to expand his powers and let him serve more than two terms. But the government and judiciary have repeatedly clashed during her short term in office.

In July, a mob reportedly instigated by a government minister attacked a courthouse with stones in the northern Mannar district because they disagreed with a judge’s ruling. — AP

Two victims to testify in Afghan massacre hearing JOINT BASE LEWIS-McCHORD: Two victims and four relatives of victims are scheduled to testify from Afghanistan last night against the American soldier accused of devastating their remote villages during a nighttime massacre last March.

The villagers will speak, by video conference and through an interpreter, to a military courtroom at Joint Base Lewis-McChord during an overnight session to accommodate the time difference. They are expected to describe the horrors that befell them before dawn on March 11.

Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, a 39-year-old Ohio native and father of two from Lake Tapps, Wash., could face the death penalty if he is convicted of 16 counts of premeditated murder and six counts of attempted murder in the attack in southern Afghanistan. The preliminary hearing in his case, which began Monday, will help an investigating officer determine whether to recommend a court-martial.

Prosecutors say that Bales wore a T-shirt, cape and nightvision goggles - no body armor - when he slipped away from his remote post, Camp Belambay. He first attacked one village, returned to the base, and headed out again to attack another village, they say. In between, he woke a fellow soldier, reported what he’d done, and said he was headed out to kill more, the soldier testified. But the soldier didn’t believe what Bales said, and went back to sleep. Nine children were among the victims, and 11 of the victims were from the same family. Two Afghan National Army guards who reported seeing a soldier return to Belambay and then leave again were also scheduled to testify Friday night. On Thursday, a US Army DNA expert testified that Bales had the blood of at least four people on his clothes and guns when he surrendered.

The blood of two males and two females was discovered on Bales’ pants, shirt, gloves, rifle and other items, said Christine Trapolsi, an examiner at the Army’s Criminal Investigation Laboratory. To preserve the evidence, she said she only tested a portion of the bloodstains, and it’s possible more DNA profiles could be discovered through additional testing. Another forensic expert from the Criminal Investigation Lab, fiber specialist Larry Peterson, testified that a small piece of fabric that matched the cape Bales reportedly wore was discovered on a pillow in one of the attacked compounds. Prosecutors referred to the cape as a blanket, but Peterson said it was more like a decorative covering for a window or doorway. Bales has not entered a plea and was not expected to testify. His attorneys, who did not give an opening statement, have not discussed the evidence, but say Bales has post-traumatic stress disorder and suffered a concussive head injury during a prior deployment to Iraq. — AP

Syria’s war shatters a village economy

16

World shares fall on fiscal cliff, Europe

Business

18

China’s factory output rises in sign of recovery

19

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2012

17

Technology holds key to Kuwait’s ‘Vision 2035’

ATHENS: Municipal workers chant anti-austerity slogans as they march in central Athens yesterday. Cash-strapped Greece will issue short term debt on Tuesday in the hope of raising enough money to repay a key bond days later. — AP

‘No need to worry’ about aid delay: Greece Troika launch third round of Cyprus bailout talks ATHENS: Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras sought yesterday to reassure nervous Greeks about delays in unlocking a vital installment of international aid after European leaders warned that a deal could be weeks away despite the adoption of more painful austerity measures.

“There is no reason to worry,” Stournaras said, just seven days before a possible default by the debt-laden country which is surviving on huge bailout packages from the European Union (EU), International Monetary Fund (IMF) and European Central Bank (ECB). “Greece is doing what it has to do, and so is Europe, the tranche will be paid,” he said, adding that Athens expected a decision on the aid at a meeting of euro-zone finance ministers on Monday. An EU official also struck a reassuring note in Brussels, saying that Greece’s international creditors would not allow it to default and were ready to give it two more years to put its house in order.

“There will be no default, not accidental, not premeditated,” said the source, speaking on condition of anonymity. The Greek press had voiced its concern earlier in the day at delays in securing the latest aid tranche of 31.5 billion euros ($40 billion), which has been frozen since June, with one newspaper accusing the country’s creditors of “blackmail”. On Thursday, European leaders welcomed the Greek parliament’s adoption of a package of more than 18 billion euros in tough new spending cuts and labor reforms, but warned that there

might not be a deal for weeks on the aid. “They are making fun of Greece,” the radical left newspaper Avghi charged, while the left-wing Eleftherotypia newspaper accused Greece’s European partners and international creditors of “blackmail right up to

the end”. The liberal Kathimerini newspaper said the EU was delaying payment because of its “inability to reach agreement with the IMF on a compromise on the viability of Greek debt”. The Athens stock market’s ASE index showed a drop of 0.32 per-

2013 oil demand may underperform: OPEC LONDON: World oil demand growth could fall short of forecasts next year, exporter group OPEC said yesterday, citing Europe’s troubled economy and the risk of weakness in faster-growing regions such as China and India.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, in a monthly report, left its forecast for growth in world demand in 2013 almost unchanged, reducing it by 10,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 770,000 bpd.

But it said a larger reduction may follow.

“The forecast oil demand growth has a notable downside risk, especially in the first half of the year,” said the monthly report from OPEC’s Vienna headquarters. “Much of this risk is attributed to not only the OECD, but

also China and India.”

OPEC, which pumps more than a third of the world’s oil, reiterated a warning it first made this summer that factors including economic weakness could shave 20 percent from next year’s global demand growth assessment. The report follows the release of OPEC’s annual long-term outlook on Thursday, which said the world would need less OPEC oil in the next few years due to lower demand expectations and higher supply from outside the group, including of shale oil.

OPEC’s monthly report sees a similar trend next year and reduced its estimate of the demand for OPEC crude by 80,000 bpd to 29.72 million bpd, a drop from this year and below OPEC’s current production. —Reuters

cent to 792.13 points in afternoon trading.

Meanwhile, Greece’s public debt managment agency PDMA said it would make a special debt issue worth 3.125 billion euros in one- and threemonth treasury bills to cover debt payments due on November 16.

The last-minute operation is meant to help Greece reimburse 4.1 billion euros on that date, given that Athens might not have received the 31.5 billion euros from international creditors yet.

Meanwhile, troika of international lenders began talks with Cyprus yesterday to seek a draft agreement on a bailout deal for the financially beleaguered Mediterranean island. A troika delegation was at the finance ministry to thrash out the extent of public sector cuts required in return for much needed financial aid and was to hold talks at the Cyprus Central Bank later in the day.

The officials are expected to remain on the island until next week. But state radio said it may not be the last visit by the troika-the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund-as it could take longer to work out how much the Greek-exposed banking sector needs to recapitalize.

Cyprus applied for an EU bailout in June after its biggest lenders, Cyprus Popular Bank and Bank of Cyprus, could not meet new capital reserve limits because of huge losses from their exposure to bailed-out Greece. —AFP

BUSINESS SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2012

Syria’s war shatters a village economy ATMEH, Syria: The civil war raging through Syria has battered much of the country’s economy, making life harder for impoverished Syrians who struggled even before the fighting broke out.

The struggles are stark even in places that have been spared large-scale destruction.

One such place is Atmeh, a village abutting Syria’s northern border with Turkey. For generations, Atmeh’s farmers have lived off their olive harvests. But this year, they say the war has drastically limited their access to markets and cut in half the prices they can expect for their products.

Assuming they find buyers, the farmers say they would be lucky to sell a kilogram (2.2 pounds) of green olives - which used to go for a dollar - for just 50 cents. The fighting prevents them from marketing their products in most of Syria, and Turkish traders across the border say they can’t import the olives anymore. “At the moment we are lost,” said

farmer Mohammed Kadur Hassan, 63. “We don’t know what to do with the extra (olive) oil.”

The war has hit other sectors as well. Petrol products are scarce since President Bashar Assad’s government stopped distributing them to areas controlled by rebels seeking to topple his regime. This leaves locals at the mercy of traders who truck gas in from other regions at a substantial hike in prices.

Fighting for months in and around the northern city of Aleppo, Syria’s main economic and commercial hub, has crippled commerce in the surrounding areas by making it difficult for merchants to buy goods for their stores.

A kilogram of sugar, which used to cost about 25 cents, now costs three to four times as much, residents say. Few see a swift end to the war that has killed more than 36,000 people since March 2011, according to antiregime activists. — AP

S Korea keeps rate unchanged at 2.75% SEOUL: South Korea’s central bank yesterday kept its key interest rate unchanged at 2.75 percent following a cut last month, as Asia’s fourth-largest economy showed small signs of recovering from a year-long slump. The Bank of Korea had cut the rate by 25 basis points in October, the second policy easing in three months aimed at arresting a slowdown in the country’s export-driven economy caused by the global downturn. October exports grew 1.2 percent, after three months of contraction, but Bank of Korea governor Kim ChoongSoo said it was premature to signal a recovery given the ongoing euro-zone crisis. “The local economy is not likely to further worsen, but it is too early to say the economy is definitely recovering,” Kim said. He also spoke of the need for contingency plans in case the United States a key export market-slips back into recession in the event the US Congress fails to agree on avoiding a so-called fiscal cliff at the end of the year.

South Korea’s economy grew 0.2 percent in the third quarter to September from the previous three months-the slowest pace in nearly three years as the euro-zone crisis impacted on investment activity. The inflation rate accelerated to 2.1 percent in October but remained comfortably within the central bank’s 2.0-4.0 percent target range. Factory output and exports improved marginally despite other aspects of the economy remaining sluggish, including consumption. Industrial output showed a slight expansion in September from a month before, ending a three-month run of contractions. Some analysts said the central bank might resume the monetary easing cycle in the first half of next year.

“It is now concerned about the weakening long-term growth trend. It will be inclined to counter it with additional monetary easing early next year,” said Samsung Securities analyst Ryan Oh. — AFP

ATHENS: A homeless man begs for money in front of the Greek parliament in Athens yesterday. Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras sought yesterday to reassure nervous Greeks about delays in unlocking a vital tranche of international aid after European leaders warned a deal could be weeks away despite the adoption of more painful austerity measures.— AFP

NAJAF: A shop staff wait for customers in Najaf, Iraq. The plunge in Iran’s currency is proving bad for business in neighboring Iraq. Fewer Iranians are now able to afford visits to Shiite holy sites here and elsewhere in Iraq because each dollar or Iraqi dinar now costs roughly three times what it did as recently as last year. — AP

Australia CB slashes 2013 GDP forecast SYDNEY: Australia’s central bank cut its 2013 growth forecast yesterday, warning the mining boom will peak earlier and at a lower level than expected as weaker commodity prices curb investment plans.

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) is now predicting annual growth of just under 2.75 percent, for the year ending 2013, down from 3 percent previously.

Growth for 2014 is seen near 3 percent, little change from its previous forecast in August. It kept a benign outlook for prices, but warned that some slowing in wage growth is needed to maintain inflation around its current level. For now, it expects underlying inflation to remain within its 2-3 percent target over the next two years.

“The outlook for the Australian economy is a little weaker than that presented in the August statement,” the RBA said in a 70-page report. Most of the downgrade was due to mining investment, which was expected to “peak a little earlier and at a lower level” than previously thought. The RBA said a recent sharp fall in spot prices for bulk commodities had led to a change in the spending plans of miners.

The RBA also said significant fiscal consolidation at both the Federal and State government levels will take a toll on growth. Despite the softer outlook, the resource-rich country remained well apart from its developed peers, particularly the euro zone which looked set to stay mired in recession for years. The Australian dollar took the report in its stride, trading just below $1.0400 and staying well within its $1.0150/0600 range seen in the past three months.

“For us the key take is there is no significant change to their forecasts. If inflation is going to do what they think is going to do: remain well behaved over the medium term, then that clearly gives them the scope to cut rates if activity disappoints,” said Su-Lin Ong, senior economist at RBC. Having lowered the cash rate by 100 basis points since May, the RBA left it unchanged at 3.25 percent earlier in the week, saying there are signs that past cuts are working and that further effects can be expected over time. But it left the door open for more easing and interbank futures implied a 50-50 chance of a move in December. The market was fully priced for a quarterpoint cut in February.

The RBA said Australia’s growth outlook depends on mining investment as well as “the timing and extent of the anticipated recovery in both dwelling and business

investment outside of the resource sector”.

“Investment plans of iron ore and coal miners remain dependent upon the prices of bulk commodities, which will in turn depend on the strength and nature of growth in China,” it added.

Prices for iron ore, among the country’s most valuable exports, skidded to a three-year low under $100 a ton in September but has since bounced back to around $120. Still, it remained some 35 percent below its 2011 peak. Some recovery in bulk commodity prices is expected early next year, “on the expectation that Chinese demand for steel picks up a little,” the RBA said. “But further out, prices are expected to continue to decline gradually given the expansion in supply generated by the very high levels of resource investment globally.”

While mining investment has continued to grow rapidly in recent quarters, the RBA said the peak could come as soon as next year. On Chinese growth, the central bank said the near-term risks looked to have declined, but uncertainty regarding the policy outlook persisted.

Outside the non-resources sector, the RBA said private non-residential investment is still subdued although demand for credit from businesses has picked up over the past year due to lower borrowing costs. It also noted that leading indicators of labor demand have declined further over recent months and point to only modest near-term employment growth and to the unemployment rate edging a little higher.

The RBA said the outlook for inflation depends on whether soft demand in some parts of the economy can help contain domestic cost pressures, now that the effects of the earlier rise in the Australian dollar have waned. “Some slowing in wage growth is likely to be necessary to maintain inflation around its current rate.

Further growth of productivity will also be needed to keep inflation consistent with the medium-term inflation target,” it warned. The RBA again noted the dollar remained stubbornly high, despite the sharp drop in Australia’s bulk commodity exports.

“Over the period ahead, as the peak of the resource investment approaches, the Board will be monitoring the strength of other components of demand, as well as trends in costs and prices,” the RBA said. “The Board will adjust the cash rate as appropriate to foster sustainable growth and low inflation,” it concluded. — Reuters

BUSINESS SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2012

Technology holds key to Kuwait’s ‘Vision 2035’ German Equity Forum on Nov 12-14 in Frankfurt from around the globe with direct access to the decision makers and top management of over 300 German listed and priKUWAIT: The transfer of technology plays a crucial role in vately held companies.

“The Forum is Europe’s largest and most prominent event achieving Kuwait’s ambitious ‘Vision 2035’, by contributing to a steady growth, adding value to the economy and local job of its kind. It will help investors identify the right target companies in a very cost-effective and time-efficient manner,” he creation, said a business strategist and equity specialist.

Talking to Kuwait Times in an interview prior to the 17th said. Regarding the investment opportunities, he said the forum will provide plenty of excellent German Equity Forum, that will take place opportunities with regards to strategic from November 12 to the 14 at the investments and partnering, specifically Frankfurt Congress Centre, Yusef Ahmed, with German small and medium sized founding partner and Managing Director of enterprises (SMEs).

F I C Frankfurt International Consulting “Entrepreneurs Meet Investors’ is the GmbH, said, “German companies are motto of this Europe’s largest and signifiamong the top three worldwide in the field cant capital market event for corporate of technology. Investing in these compafinancing via the equity markets, he nies and partnering with them will add informed. tremendous value to Kuwaiti businesses,” “This platform for information and nethe said. working will act as a meeting point for the “On behalf of the Deutsche Borse Group, entire community comprising more than we are very pleased to invite investors from 5,000 participants such as entrepreneurs, Kuwait and the GCC to this yearly event,” investors and analysts along with delegates Ahmed said. from the financial services sector,” Ahmed Ahmed arrived in Kuwait as part of a tour added. to the Gulf region ahead of the yearly event Yusef Ahmed F I C Frankfurt International Consulting that offers talks, workshops and panel disGmbH is specialized in serving investors, cussion on current market developments in businesses and banks from the GCC with their business activicorporate financing.

Kuwait’s ‘Vision 2035’ envisages several five-year plans aim- ties in Germany and beyond. The track record of F I C’s team ing at transferring Kuwait into a financial and commercial hub. and advisors ranges from the establishment and management As envisioned by HH the Amir, the plan will attract massive of foreign banks, advising on a number of investments in investments where the private sector is expected to lead the German technology companies by prominent family enterprises from the Middle East and South Asia, introduction of economic activity.

Giving an overview of the German Equity Forum hosted by German technology companies to institutional investors in the the Deutsche Borse Group in conjunction with the KfW GCC as well the establishment of strategic partnerships Banking Group, Ahmed said the forum will provide investors between Arab and German banks and enterprises.

By Sajeev K Peter

SHANGHAI: Women sell umbrellas on a street in Shanghai yesterday. China’s inflation rate slipped to a nearly threeyear low in October, leaving the authorities with room to take more steps to boost the recovery in the world’s second-largest economy. — AFP

Turkey to reject bid to import Iraq gas ISTANBUL/ANKARA: Turkey is set to reject a company’s application to import natural gas from northern Iraq after it failed to produce the necessary purchase agreement in time because of political tensions, energy officials told Reuters.

Turkish company Siyahkalem Ltd had applied to energy markets watchdog EPDK to import gas between 2014-2033, starting with annual volume of 700 million cubic metres and rising to 3.2 bcm.

The firm had to deliver a purchase agreement to the regulator within 90 days after the EPDK initially ruled that its application was acceptable, but it failed to do so, the officials said.

“The political developments being experienced between Turkey and Iraq and between the central Iraqi government and the Northern Iraqi Kurdish government had an impact in the failure to secure the agreement,” one of the Turkish energy officials said. Turkey has been developing its interest in the Iraqi energy sector, despite tensions with Baghdad after Ankara gave refuge to Iraq’s fugitive vice president, Tareq Al-Hashemi, who has been sentenced to death by an Iraqi court.

Iraq has also asked Turkey to stop attacks on Kurdish rebel forces sheltering across the border in northern Iraq, a Kurdish autonomous region over which Baghdad has little control and with which Ankara has forged close ties in recent years.

Iraq’s cabinet said on Wednesday it was expelling Turkey’s state-owned TPAO from its exploration block 9 oilfield for an unspecified reason, although denying it was prompted by any move by the Turkish company into Kurdistan. According to regulations on obtaining a natural gas import licence in Turkey, companies have to present a contract from the supplier country and company to prove that the resource will be transferred.

Sources close to Siyahkalem said the firm had asked for additional time from the regulator but that the regulator had not responded yet and the process was continuing. — Reuters

Tata Steel posts quarterly loss MUMBAI: India’s Tata Steel, the world’s eighth-largest steelmaker, yesterday swung into a surprise quarterly net loss from profit a year earlier, due to falling demand and prices in its key European market. Tata Steel reported a consolidated net loss of 3.64 billion rupees ($67 million) from July to September, from 2.12 billion rupees over the same period a year earlier, while sales rose four percent to 338.67 billion rupees.

Analysts had expected the firm to post a profit of 2.6 billion rupees. Steelmakers around the world have been suffering from a slowdown in demand as industrial growth loses pace in emerging economies such as India and China and expansion remains sluggish in advanced western economies.

Europe accounts for about two-thirds of sales and production for the steelmaker, which has an annual capacity of some 28 million tons. Tata Steel, part of the sprawling Tata Group conglomerate, became one of the world’s biggest steelmakers after purchasing the Anglo-Dutch company Corus for $13.7 billion in 2007. Corus was rebranded as Tata Steel in September 2010. —AFP

Hostility to banks ‘no excuse for UBS trader’ LONDON: Former UBS trader Kweku Adoboli was accused yesterday of trying to rely on public hostility towards banks as a defense in his rogue-trading trial.

Prosecutor Sasha Wass urged the jury to put aside whatever feelings they may have about the failings of the banking industry and focus on the alleged wrongdoing of Adoboli, 32, who is blamed for a loss of $2.3 billion. Adoboli, then a senior trader on the Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) desk, was arrested at UBS’s London offices in September last year. He denies four counts of false accounting and two of fraud by abuse of position. Adoboli admits trading in excess of his risk limits, concealing his positions with fictitious bookings into the accounts, and lying to the back office during the summer of 2011, when he says he “lost control” of his trading due to burnout. He says he was not acting dishonestly because others sanctioned his methods, which he had been using profitably for years. He also says the bank had pushed him to increase profits in a way it knew could not be achieved by sticking to the official rules.

“Mr Adoboli is relying in his defense on the dislike that many people have of banks or bankers,” Wass told the jury in the final minutes of a lengthy closing speech for the prosecution.

“We love to despise the greed, the recklessness, the arrogance of bankers.

Adoboli has sought to cash in on this public mood,” she said. During the course of his eight days defending himself in the witness box, Adoboli had cited various scandals affecting UBS and other banks as evidence that this was an industry that did not strictly enforce rules or ethical standards. “I am not here

to defend the bankers,” Wass told the jury. “I am here to prosecute one of them.” She told the jury that none of the witnesses who were employees or exemployees of UBS had backed up Adoboli’s account of a bank that cared only about profits, no matter how they were made. —Reuters

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani children play on a brick loading cart on the outskirts of Islamabad yesterday. Pakistan has faced persistent economic concerns amid a shaky supply of electricity, a weak revenue base, high external debt and security concerns that have scared off some foreign investors. — AFP

BUSINESS SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2012

Gas rationing for NY City after storm NEW YORK: New York City started rationing gas yesterday morning as tempers remained short, lines remained long and panic buying continued more than 10 days after a deadly superstorm stunned the infrastructure of America’s largest city. Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the shortages could last another couple of weeks and that only a quarter of the city’s gas stations were open. Some had no power, and others couldn’t get fuel from terminals. “This is designed to let everybody have a fair chance,” Bloomberg said of the new system based on even-numbered and odd-numbered license plates.

Superstorm Sandy killed more than 100 people in several states, most of them in New York and New Jersey,

and its damage has been estimated at up to $50 billion.

That makes it the second most expensive storm in US history, behind Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

In another reminder of Katrina, the Federal Emergency Management Agency announced Thursday that it had started to move several hundred mobile homes into New York and New Jersey for the tens of thousands who have to leave their damaged homes as winter weather arrives. FEMA was widely criticized for using trailers after Katrina devastated New Orleans when many were found to contain toxic levels of formaldehyde. FEMA says the mobile homes being brought to the New York area are different. The Energy Department has

said the superstorm also left more people in the dark than any other storm in US history. At the peak, more than 8.5 million homes and businesses across 21 states lost power.

Hundreds of thousands of customers, mostly in New York and New Jersey, were still waiting Friday for their electricity to come back on. An angry New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo blasted the local utilities as unprepared and badly managed.

“It’s unacceptable the longer it goes on because the longer it goes on, people’s suffering is worse,” he said Thursday. The utilities have said they are dealing with damage unprecedented in its scope.—AP

World shares fall on fiscal cliff, Europe Markets hit by report on US spending LONDON: World shares are on course for their worst weekly performance since June, depressed by Europe’s debt troubles and the looming “fiscal cliff” that could slash US public spending. Even better-than-expected Chinese economic data for October, which pointed to a modest rebound in the world’s second largest economy, failed to stem the declines yesterday.

The MSCI world equity index was down 0.3 percent at around 322.5

est in three weeks against the yen, which is often a refuge in times of stress. The greenback hit 79.21 yen, its lowest level since Oct. 19 and down 0.3 percent on the day.

“You’ve only got to look at what’s happening in the gold market, and with the equity markets falling quite heavily, that is playing back into strong demand for the yen,” said Adam Myers, senior currency strategist at Credit Agricole CIB. Gold hit a

TOKYO: A man walks past a share prices board in Tokyo yesterday.

Tokyo stocks fell 0.94 percent by the break yesterday, following a tumble on Wall Street, as Japanese markets were hit by a still-strong yen amid investor worries about the US economy. — AFP points by 1230 GMT. It has lost over two percent since Monday and looked set to close on Friday with a decline steeper than any other week since June. “Concerns about the US fiscal cliff and the situation in Europe have been prompting investors to take some risk off the table,” said James Butterfill, global equity strategist at London private bank Coutts.

US stock futures signalled a third day of falls for Wall Street when trading resumes. Data due out later includes the Thomson-Reuters University of Michigan sentiment survey where a small pickup to 83 from 82.6 is forecast. In a further sign of nervousness, the dollar fell to its low-

three-week high of $1,737.60 an ounce.

Prices for safe-haven US Treasuries extended their gains for the week after the US elections on Tuesday raised fears that Washington’s politicians may struggle to find a compromise to cut the budget deficit before nearly $600 billion of spending cuts and tax increases kick in early in 2013.

Markets are also watching the US debt ceiling, which needs to be raised to avoid a government shutdown. The price increase in the benchmark US Treasury 10-year note pushed the yield down 3 basis points to 1.59 percent. In Europe falling industrial output in France, Italy and Sweden and a

warning from a German ministry that the country’s economy - Europe’s largest - was expected to slow further in the fourth quarter and the first three months of next year, rattled investors.

The FTSE Eurofirst 300 index of top European shares was down 0.7 percent to 1090.20 as London’s FTSE 100, Paris’s CAC-40 and Frankfurt’s DAX fell between 0.5 and 1.3 percent.

A worried German finance minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble, has asked a panel of economic advisers to look into reform proposals for France.

Reported exclusively by Reuters, the unusual move reveals the depth of concern in Berlin at the weakness in the euro zone’s second largest economy. “Germany has benefited from the euro zone debt crisis in a way because a weaker euro helped its exports. But Germany appears to be starting to suffer from deterioration in the euro zone economy,” said Mitsuru Saito, chief economist at Tokai Tokyo Securities in Tokyo. A senior EU official also told Reuters it was unlikely ministers would reach agreement on Monday on whether to release Greece’s next aid tranche and that another meeting would probably be needed.

“We still have the situation in Greece; the volatility indexes are showing that investors are not too worried at the moment - but that can change quickly so politicians need to act quickly,” said Emile Cardon, a market economist at Rabobank.

German government bonds, favored by risk-averse investors, rose; Bund futures added 23 basis points on the day to reach 143.20, adding to gains of more than a full point since last Friday’s close.

The euro hit a two-month low against the dollar, down 0.3 percent at $1.2714, and was seen vulnerable to further losses. “There has been a rather poisonous cocktail that is dragging the euro down, with weak European numbers today, renewed fears of the euro zone crisis with Greece back on the agenda,” said Arne Lohmann Rasmussen, head of currency research at Danske Bank. In industrial commodity markets the better news from top consumer China only partially offset the worries over the US and European economies.—Reuters

BRUSSELS: UK Financial Secretary to the Treasury Greg Clark and Cypriot Deputy Minister to the President for European Affairs Andreas Mavroyiannis talk prior an Economic and Financial Affairs Council yesterday.— AFP

UK adds stimulus through change to BOE payments LONDON: Britain’s finance ministry said yesterday it would use revenue from the Bank of England’s bond-buying program to reduce short-term debt issuance, a move the BoE said equated to a small loosening in monetary policy.

Until now, interest payments on the 375 billion pounds of government debt held by the BoE have sat in the central bank’s account. Now some 35 billion pounds will return to the finance ministry, reducing immediate government borrowing needs. The government’s budget watchdog, the Office for Budget Responsibility, said the move was likely to lead to lower government bond

issuance in the short term, but could bring higher long-term costs.

“If government borrowing costs rise over time as the economy recovers, or for other reasons, then debt interest payments will be higher in the future. This may outweigh the lower costs in the preceding years,” the OBR said. The Bank of England-which on Thursday decided not to extend its asset purchase scheme said that the decision amounted to a slight loosening of monetary policy.

“During its meeting of 7-8 November I briefed the Monetary Policy Committee on the agreement we have reached,” BoE Governor Mervyn King said.—Reuters

HYDERABAD: Indian laborers relax at the casting yard of L and T construction that produces segments for the Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR) in Hyderabad yesterday. The casting site has capability to complete 450 segments per month and has facility to stock about 1200 segments. The entire metro rail project of 72km long is expected to be completed in 2017. — AFP

BUSINESS

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2012

LUKOIL studies Exxon offer on Iraqi oil Exxon wants to leave field: Report MOSCOW: Russia’s second largest crude producer LUKOIL said yesterday it will study an offer from Exxon to take over the West Qurna-1 oilfield in Iraq, Interfax news agency said. ExxonMobil has informed the Iraqi government it wants to pull out of the $50 billion oil project in southern Iraq.

LUKOIL, which is already developing West Qurna-2, has previously said West Qurna-1 is “too big for it to swallow”, but on Friday said it would at least look into the proposal.

“We received an offer from Exxon. We will likely study this possibility. But we haven’t make any decision today,” Andrei Kuzyayev, head of LUKOIL foreign operations was quoted as saying.

Baghdad expects Exxon to complete

the sale of its shares in West Qurna-1 by the end of December and the US company has told Iraq it is already in talks with other oil majors, a senior official said yesterday.

“Exxon informed us that it has started talks with some oil majors, including BP, Shell, Lukoil, CNPC and Eni offering them its complete stake in West Qurna-1,” said Faisal Abdullah, a spokesman for Deputy Prime Minister for Energy Hussain Shahristani. “Our condition for approval of the purchase is that the buyer should have adequate financial and technical resources to develop the super-giant oilfield.” LUKOIL is attempting to offset production decline at its fields in Russia, where it faces competition from the state-

backed companies, by acquiring foreign upstream assets.

LUKOIL is active in Middle East, Central Asia, West Africa and Latin America. But Russia’s vast Arctic offshore reserves are off-limits for the company due to legal restrictions, which allow only state-controlled company participation. Doubts about who can replace Exxon in the important project could raise questions about Iraq’s target to increase crude output to 5-6 million barrels per day by 2015 from 3.4 million bpd. Some industry sources have said Baghdad is keen to replace Exxon with companies from Russia or China. But it was unclear which companies would have the financial heft to follow Exxon. — Reuters

China’s factory output rises in sign of recovery BEIJING: China’s auto sales, consumer spending and factory output improved in October in a new sign of economic recovery as the Communist Party prepared to install a new generation of leaders.

Growth in factory output accelerated to 9.6 percent over a year earlier from the previous month’s 9.2 percent, the government reported Friday. Retail sales rose 14.5 percent, up from September’s 14.2 percent.

Also in October, inflation eased further, giving Beijing more room to cut interest rates or launch new stimulus measures to speed a recovery with less danger of igniting politically dangerous price rises.

The data are welcome news for the ruling party, which is meeting in Beijing for a once-a-decade handover of power to younger leaders. Coming off the past year’s steady declines in economic activity, a rebound might allow the new leaders to benefit from improving public sentiment.

“A modest recovery is under way,” said UBS economist Tao Wang in a report.

Investment growth strengthened, rising 25.2 percent over a year earlier, up from the previous month’s 25.1 percent.

Auto sales rose 6.4 percent to 1.3 million vehicles, rebounding from September’s 0.3 percent contraction, a state-sanctioned industry group, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, reported.

The improvement comes as communist leaders are expected to install Vice President Xi Jinping as party leader and China’s next president. The new leadership faces challenges including slowing growth that the World Bank and Chinese analysts say will require a drastic change in the country’s economic strategy. They say Beijing must reduce the dominance of state companies in industries from finance to energy to banking and nurture free-market competition to keep incomes rising. Economic growth fell to a three and a half year low of 7.4 percent in the quarter ending in September but investment, retail sales and other indicators improved from the previous quarter. The government said last month it saw “steady economic growth,” suggesting there was no

need for further major stimulus. The slowdown was due largely to government efforts to crush inflation and prevent economic overheating after the huge stimulus in response to the 2008 global crisis fueled sharp price rises. Beijing reversed course late last year after global demand for Chinese goods plunged, slamming exporters and raising the danger of job losses and unrest.

The abrupt slowdown added to complications for communist leaders as they tried

to enforce calm ahead of the leadership change. Forecasters expect growth to rebound this quarter or early in 2013.

They say any recovery is likely to be gradual and too weak to drive global growth without improvement in the United States and Europe. Beijing launched a ministimulus early this year, cutting interest rates twice in June and July and stepping up investment by state companies and spending on building airports and other public works. — AP

JINJIANG: Chinese workers manufacture sports shoes at a shoe factory in Jinjiang in southeast China’s Fujian province yesterday. China’s auto sales, consumer spending and factory output improved in October in a new sign of economic recovery as the Communist Party prepared to install a new generation of leaders. — AP

JC Penney posts hefty Q3 loss NEW YORK: JC Penney Co is reporting a bigger-than-expected loss and plummeting sales for the third quarter as its customers are still not buying its pricing plan that gets rid of hundreds of discounts.

The department store chain says it lost 56 cents per share, or $123 million in the quarter ended Oct. 27. That compares with a loss of $143 million, or 67 cents per share in the year ago period. Revenue

dropped 26.6 percent to $2.93 billion.

Analysts had expected a 15 cent loss on revenue of $3.27 billion.

Revenue at stores opened at least a year dropped 26.1 percent. Analysts expected a 17.6 percent drop. The bleak performance marks the third straight quarter of losses and severe sales declines since Penney implemented the pricing plan on Feb 1. — AP

BEIJING: A salesgirl holding a gold bar to mark the upcoming year of the snake, on sale at a goldsmith shop in Beijing. China yesterday released a slew of figures showing growth of the world’s second-largest economy is gaining pace, as the ruling Communist Party convenes to anoint new leaders for the next decade. — AFP

Gold hits 3-week peak on US fiscal fears LONDON: Gold hit a three-week high yesterday, boosted by expectations US monetary policy would remain loose after President Barack Obama’s re-election and a looming “fiscal cliff” that could slash US public spending.

Since the US elections on Tuesday investors have become worried that Washington’s politicians may struggle to find a compromise to cut the budget deficit before nearly $600 billion worth of spending cuts and tax increases kick in early in 2013.

Markets are also watching the debt ceiling, which needs to be raised to avoid a government shutdown.

Spot gold was at $1,732.09 an ounce by 1150 GMT, up 0.12 percent, having earlier touched a three-week peak of $1,737.60, while US gold edged up 0.39 percent to $1,732.70.

A stronger dollar offset further upside in gold by making the yellow metal more costly in other currencies. Gold prices hit a 2-1/2 week high on Wednesday after Obama’s re-election gave markets a boost by ending weeks of political uncertainty, and since extended gains to the three-week peak as concerns over the fiscal cliff intensified.

“This is a question of a safe haven bid for gold in times of economic uncertainty,” said Nic Brown, head of commodities research at Natixis. “It is a recognition that the negotiations between Obama and Congress will be difficult. The two political parties come from diametrically opposed positions on this issue.”

Brown said the Obama victory signaled a continuing environment of relaxed monetary policy, which was likely to underpin gold prices.

“An Obama victory enhances the likely longevity of ongoing quantitative easing,” he said. Money printing by central banks boosts gold’s appeal as it keeps interest rates at a low level, reducing the opportunity cost of holding a metal that has no yield outside its actual value.

Spot gold XAU= is likely to gain more to $1,749 per ounce, driven by an upward wave c, according to Reuters market analyst Wang Tao. China’s economy strode further along the road of recovery from its slowest growth in three years, data for October showed yesterday, as infrastructure investment accelerated and output from the country’s factories ran at its fastest in five months.

China’s gold is expected to grow 1 percent this year to a record of around 860 tons, Philip Klapwijk, the global head of metals at consultancy Thomson Reuters GFMS, said this week, with both jewellery and investment sales rising.

Gold importers in India, the world’s biggest buyer of bullion, paused on fresh purchases ahead of festivals next week, as a weaker rupee helped the yellow metal hit its highest level in seven weeks. —Reuters

BUSINESS

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2012

Germans to prod forward further EU bank pay curbs

PARIS: Goods with the Eiffel tower printed on them are displayed at the Made in France Fair yesterday. — AFP

PARIS: French Minister for Industrial Recovery Arnaud Montebourg (center left) visits the “Made in France” fair, in Paris yesterday. Montebourg’s job is reviving French industry amid a stagnating economy, and he is leading a campaign to get consumers to buy French-made goods instead of imports that often cost less. — AP

French CB warns of mild recession as output falls Double trouble for French economy PARIS: The French economy suffered two setbacks yesterday when the central bank warned of a slight recession and official data said that industrial output fell sharply in September.

France is heading for a slight recession at the end of the year, the Bank of France forecast. In another gloomy announcement, the statistics institute INSEE reported that industrial output fell by 2.7 percent in September after a jump of 1.9 percent in August and that industrialists were planning further reductions of investment.

The central bank estimated that total output would shrink by 0.1 percent in the last quarter, after an estimated setback of about the same amount in the third quarter. In the previous three quarters gross domestic product was flat.

This latest outlook underlines strains in the economy and comes in a week marked by a big effort by the government to reverse the falling competitiveness and a huge structural trade deficit.

Two of the main factors of growth in an economy are investment, and exports

minus imports-a trade surplus. The main thrust of new measures is to switch the cost of paying for social security and health benefits from employers to a wider tax base, and also to reduce public spending.

One brighter note came from the budget ministry which said that the budget deficit of the central French state, part of the overall public deficit, had fallen by 7.7 billion euros on September 30 on a 12-month basis to 85 billion euros.

It said that this was “coherent with the expected reduction.” INSEE said that regarding the industrial setback in September, output by manufacturing, excluding the mining and energy sectors, fell by 3.2 percent after a rise of 2.1 percent in August. For the whole of the third quarter, overall industrial output was flat from output in the previous quarter. However manufactured output in the quarter, on a 12-month comparison, fell by 1.9 percent. INSEE also reported that French industrialists, who had revised down sharply their invest-

ment programs for 2012, were now planning on reducing their investment in equipment next year. The central bank’s overall growth estimates are in line with those of INSEE and would mark the first recession since France was hit by the financial crisis in the first part of 2009.

A recession is considered to occur when output from one quarter to the next contracts for two quarters in a row.

And emergence from recession, then a return to contraction within a few years, is commonly referred to as a double dip.

If output is flat or contracts for five quarters in a row, as the latest estimates indicate, this would be unprecedented in France since World War II. INSEE expects the economy to have grown over the whole of 2012 by 0.2 percent, slightly less than the figure given by the government in its effort to reduce the public deficit to 4.5 percent of output at the end of the year. Strong growth is important because it leads to higher tax revenues and to lower charges for benefits such as unemployment. — AFP

Allianz says profits up seven-fold in Q3 FRANKFURT: German insurance giant Allianz said yesterday that net profit soared nearly seven-fold in the third quarter, because year-earlier figures had been hit by heavy writedowns on holdings of Greek bonds. But its estimates of the cost of hurricane Sandy were uncertain at this stage, it noted. On the back of the strong performance, Allianz upheld its full-year forecast for operating profit of more than 9.0 billion euros ($11.5 billion). Allianz said in a statement it booked bottom-line net profit of 1.344 billion euros in the period from July to September, compared with 196 million euros a year earlier. Operating profit grew by 32.8 percent to 2.532 billion euros on a 4.7-percent increase in revenues to 25.2 billion euros, the statement said.

“In the third quarter, we continued momentum from the first half of the year,” the company boasted, saying that all three business segments-property and casualty, life and health and asset management-saw improvements.

“Following the strong operating performance, we expect full-year operating profit to exceed 9.0 billion euros, assuming no adverse developments during the remainder of the year,” Allianz said. — AFP

MADRID: A man walks besides Iberia jets in a parking zone at Barajas international airport in Madrid yesterday. International Airlines Group yesterday warned that its Spanish carrier Iberia was “in a fight for survival” and unveiled a restructuring plan to cut 4,500 jobs as it reported a drop in third-quarter profit. — AP

BRUSSELS: The European Union will consider German proposals on Monday to limit bankers’ bonuses to the same level as basic salaries, EU officials said, an attempt to sway Britain’s resistance to a further clampdown on the sector’s huge pay packets. Policymakers worldwide have made little real progress in limiting huge payouts for an industry that drove the world economy into crisis in 2008 and forced bailouts for which ordinary taxpayers are still picking up the tab.

The EU has tougher bank pay curbs than guidelines laid out by the Group of 20 but some policymakers are still pushing for more steps to be taken.

The proposals, first aired by Germany and to be discussed by EU member states and lawmakers from the European Parliament, are the next step in drawn out negotiations to reach a joint deal on new rules forcing banks to hold more capital. It will be the first time member states formally discuss the bonus proposal which was not part of the original draft measure - and will pit German interests against those of Britain.

UK finance minister George Osborne, mindful of London’s status as a financial centre, has previously said he would fight any new bonus caps from Brussels.

Banks have also lobbied against the change, saying the cap could strip them of talented staff. Current rules already force banks to defer up to half the bonus for at least three years.

The European Parliament wants the total of all elements of a bonus to be no more than basic salary, a step too far for some countries, leading to an attempt

by Germany to propose a middle way.

Two EU officials close to the matter, who declined to be identified, said discussions would include a proposal from German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble to cap only the cash component of a bonus to no more than the banker’s fixed salary.

Lawmakers said any compromise must take into account previously agreed rules, such as clawing back a bonus if a bank gets into trouble. Some critics have already pointed to moves by banks to up basic salaries, which would weaken the impact of the new rules from the off.

“The new legislation must make sure that the rules we established, to ensure banks claw back bonuses and introduce limits to the cash part, are not undermined,” said Arlene McCarthy, a British Labour politician and one of the European Parliament’s leading lawmakers on the proposal.

Current EU bonus rules are stricter than principles on bank remuneration agreed by G20 leaders by being more specific. For example, the G20 recommends that a substantial portion of a bonus is deferred for three years or more with less than half upfront in cash. EU rules say only 20 percent of a big bonus can be upfront in cash.

Schaeuble’s cash cap might be easier for banks to swallow, because many already pay larger proportions of their bonuses in shares, following a previous EU law which required that bankers get just a quarter of their bonus upfront in cash.

Banks argue that capping bonuses or enforcing bonus/salary ratios would simply push up basic pay to retain staff - something which is already happening and increase lenders’ fixed costs, making it harder to cut costs in a downturn.

The cap is just one element in a package of rules that implement a global accord, known as Basel III, requiring lenders to triple the amount of basic capital they must hold to weather shocks unaided by taxpayers. The European Union is struggling to agree on many aspects of the package, including what kinds of assets can be considered liquid or quickly available in a crisis. Schaeuble’s proposal also demands that shareholders approve any long-term incentive schemes before they are announced. — Reuters

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2012

Spanish Bond baddie Bardem gets Hollywood star

www.kuwaittimes.net

PAGE 26

Marilyn Monroe photos on auction in Poland PAGE 25

Canadian-Indian actress Sunny Leone poses with a creation by designer Rohit Verma in Mumbai on November 8, 2012. — AFP

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2012

Bryan Adams

d e t n a W e h T

to become dad again

T

he 53-year-old rocker-turnedphotographer and his partner Alicia Grimaldi - with whom he has 18month-old daughter Mirabella Bunny Grimaldi-Adams - will welcome another child into the world next year. He tweeted: “Alicia’s either eaten too much chocolate cake or we’re expecting another baby ... I think it’s a baby.” His representative added to People.com: “There’s another baby on the way for singer Bryan Adams and Alicia Grimaldi. “Their daughter, Bunny GrimaldiAdams, is now 18 months old, and the new baby is due next year.” Brian joked about the arrival of his “Easter bunny” last year.

Announcing the birth of his daughter, he said: “I’m really proud to announce on 22 April, Mirabella Bunny was born. Mother and baby are both well and happy. Thanks in advance for your kind thoughts and wishes. “She arrived like all good Easter bunnies on Easter Friday.” Friends of Alicia who is believed to be living with the singerand-photographer in London - were said to be shocked when Bryan announced the pregnancy last March as many people had no idea they were even dating. One insider said: “Many of their friends still don’t even know that they are a couple, but they are living together at his house.”

have no money T

he ‘I Found You’ hitmakers have been told by their accountants the “depressing” fact that their bank balances are not full with cash, despite their phenomenal pop success. Band member Jay McGuiness, 20, revealed: “We met our accountant the other day. It was so depressing. It took him two hours to say, ‘Boys, you’re skint!’ “ The group - which also includes Nathan Sykes, Tom Parker, Siva Kaneswaran and Max George - are believed to be losing out on profits to their songwriters, manager Scooter Braun and their label Geffen Records, despite their hit ‘Glad You Came’ selling over three million copies in the US which is exactly the same number as One Direction’s ‘What Makes You Beautiful’. However, One Direction are worth around £100 million - despite record

Lady Gaga likes to bathe in perfume Cameron T

he ‘Born This Way’ singer recently released her own fragrance, Lady Gaga Fame, and she enjoys covering her entire body in the fragrance because it makes her feel much sexier.

She said: “Perfume is not something you have to be shy with - I like to bathe in it. Fragrance makes me feel desirable and I prefer more luscious. I actually decided on this perfume because it won over a man and he was a good catch.” Gaga who is in a relationship with ‘Chicago Fire’ actor Taylor Kinney - also revealed another part of her unconventional beauty regime is to get her assistant “Nanny Poppins” to scrub her body in the bath before she goes out. The 26-year-old pop superstar said: “I love it when my friends get me ready, like a geisha. We all gather together and put on crowns and tell each other how much we love each other. Nanny Poppins, my nanny, also helps me by running a warm bath and scrubbing my skin so I can be the best for my fans.” Gaga takes good care of her skin as she wants to keep wrinkles away for as long as possible. The iconic musician explained: “I really believe this is the tip to save yourself from wrinkles in the future: every night you must take off all of your make-up - however you need to, just do it. Then massage some oil into your face and, right after, put your moisturiser over it so it pushes the oil all the way into your skin. Go to sleep and wake up and call me and tell me how fabulous your skin looks.”

companies Syco and Columbia Records taking the majority of their earnings. Max, 24, added on British talk show Alan Carr’s ‘Chatty Man’: “They [One Direction] are [worth millions]. We’re not.” The Wanted and One Direction have had an ongoing chart battle with each other and have traded insults and challenges with 1D’s Louis Tomlinson further stoking the feud by declaring: “If you want to create that rivalry, lay down the challenge.”

However, The Wanted are keen to play down their supposed issues with One Direction, with Tom admitting “it is hardly Blur versus Oasis” - a reference to the two Britpop bands intense war of words in the 90s which culminated in a singles chart battle for number one in August 1995 between Oasis’ ‘Roll With It’ and Blur’s ‘Country House’.

Diaz

loves Britain

T

he 40-year-old actress has been spending a lot of time in London recently and says she loves the miserable British weather because it is a welcome break from the Los Angeles heat. Speaking at the world premiere of ‘Gambit’ in London’s Leicester Square last night, Cameron told BANG Showbiz: “I just love everything about this city. You’re not going to believe me, but I love the weather.” The Hollywood beauty showed her support of British fashion by walking the red carpet alongside her A-list co-stars Colin Firth, Alan Rickman and Tom Courtenay in a simple black and white dress by her close friend Stella McCartney, before heading off to the Corinthia Hotel for the official after-party.

She said: “I’m wearing Stella McCartney.

Everything but the shoes, which are Burberry.” When quizzed about her crush on

her 75-year-old British co-star Tom, Cameron laughed: “He seduced me immediately. I was like, ‘What is really going on here? Why am in love with Tom Courtenay?’ We just got along together.”

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2012

Katie Holmes binged on ice-cream during her divorce

Taylor Swift wants to date a red-head

T

he ‘We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together’ hitmaker who has previously dated Hollywood hunks Jake Gyllenhaal and Taylor Lautner as well as music stars John Mayer and Joe Jonas - would love to be romantically involved with a flame-locked guy and admits she particularly likes ‘Harry Potter’ star Rupert Grint. She said: “I like people with red hair, I would do a ginger. I like Rupert Grint, the guy from the ‘Harry Potter’ films.” The 22-year-old singer is known to be a big fan of flame-haired singer Ed Sheeran - who she collaborated with on new song ‘Everything Has Changed’ and she thinks it is the “coolest thing ever” that he has got a new tattoo of her album title ‘Red’ on his arm. She added: “He has a tattoo on his arm and it says ‘Red’, which is after my new album. I think that is the coolest thing ever. I love that. I mean, it’s permanent.” As well as her penchant for ginger-haired men, the blonde beauty loves collecting antiques and she is a big fan of 71-year-old British TV host David Dickinson, who presents daytime antiques programme ‘David Dickinson’s Real Deal’. Speaking on comedy chat show ‘Alan Carr: Chatty Man’, the blonde beauty added: “I love antiques. I collect them for my home in Nashville. I hear he does a show over here. We love a bit of pinstripe in America.”

Elizabeth Olsen likes older men T

he 23-year-old actress is currently dating Boyd Holbrook, 31, and admitted she has always been attracted to men who are older than her. She told Us Weekly magazine: “My first crushes were older men. First Frank Sinatra, then John Stamos, then George Clooney. I’ve always had a thing for silver foxes.” Elizabeth recently expressed her belief that that people’s obsession with the ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ book series shows society. She said: “It’s had a huge impact on society. Apparently rope sales have skyrocketed because women who’ve read the book are really getting into bondage, which is kind of great. “All of a sudden, this book has become a sensation because the women reading it haven’t had access to this kind of thing before.” While Elizabeth doesn’t want the role, Emma Roberts recently revealed she would jump at the chance to star in the movie.

She said: “Everyone says read ‘Fifty Shades of Grey.’ I don’t really understand. But everyone on the plane was reading it, and I was like, ‘I should probably just get it.’ “I haven’t read it, I don’t even understand, but yeah, it sounds awesome.

Anything racy, hot. Sure, let’s get hot.”

T

he ‘Dead Accounts’ Broadway star - who split from husband Tom Cruise in June after six years of marriage - has revealed she treated herself to the ice cold dessert every night after she retreated to her hometown Toledo, Ohio with their six-year-old daughter Suri over the summer. She told the Times newspaper that her lawyer father Martin and her daughter enjoyed daily trips to their local ice-cream parlor and she discovered her new favorite flavor “Spouse Like a House”, which is a combination of vanilla and chocolate-covered pretzels with caramel. The 33-year-old actress said she made sure to exercise to keep herself in shape and “worked off the calories by running in the parks” of her childhood home. Katie insisted that despite living in a plush apartment in New York

she still feels like a small town girl and leans on her family for support. She said: “I still think of myself as Midwestern. I have these moments where what’s going on in my life is unbelievable, and you have to tell everyone to figure out how to respond. My siblings and I are always on the phone saying: ‘Oh my God, what do you think? What does Mom think? What does Dad think?’ And then you act accordingly.” The actress who has just started her second stint on Broadway also admitted she is feeling the pressure and wants to win rave reviews.

She said: “I have a hard time sleeping because I think about how serious this all is,” she admitted. “I think about the cost of tickets. I think to myself: ‘You better do a good job. People are paying a lot of money.’ You want to know your stuff.”

Simon Cowell spends £100,000 on a ‘fortress’

T

he music mogul has splashed out the huge sum improving security on his London house after a fan was able to break in and hide in his wardrobe earlier this year. A source told The Sun newspaper: “Simon’s a perfectionist about everything and his security renovations were so extensive he’s had to put in for planning permission to get them done. “He basically wants to transform his London home into a fortress.” Simon previously admitted he had to hide from Leanne Zaloumis - who was reportedly found in the bathroom with half a brick above her head and her hands drenched in blood - when she broke in during March. He said: “I ended up hiding in one of my wardrobe closets until the police found her. That was a little spooky.” After hearing a “loud bang” when the intruder crashed through the window when he was watching television in his home, Simon alerted his staff, who in turn called the cops and sent a squad of armed officers to the property.

Zaloumis was then found hiding on a shelf seven feet off the ground in a walk-in wardrobe. The intruder appeared in court in August to be sentenced for the break-in. She was handed a 12-month community order with a mental health requirement. She has also been ordered to stay away from Simon under a restraining order, while she must also wear an electronic tag and adhere to a strict curfew. —Bang Showbiz

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2012

Writer’s epic journey gets ‘Ulysses’ to Dublin stage I

n an odyssey worthy of its fictional hero, an Irish writer has finally brought James Joyce’s “Ulysses” to the stage in Dublin after a copyright battle blew his adaptation off course for nearly two decades. Dermot Bolger was commissioned in 1993 by a US museum that holds the original manuscript of James Joyce’s famed novel-which chronicles a day in the life of a Dublin man-to adapt the book for the stage. After one performance in the United States, the play was left to languish when EU copyright laws suddenly changed and Bolger gave up hope of persuading the protective Joyce estate to let it be performed.

But after the copyright finally expired on the 1922 novel earlier this year, the play is finally being shown in its home city this week. “Emotionally for me these performances in Dublin feel almost like James Joyce is finally coming home,” Bolger told AFP on the eve of the first performance in the Irish capital. The challenge of adapting “Ulysses”-one of the greatest novels of the 20th century and a key modernist text-for the stage would be daunting even without the hurdles Bolger has faced.

Taking ancient Greek author Homer’s story of Greek warrior Odysseus as its template, the 700-page novel charts the adventures of Leopold Bloom, a Jewish advertising salesman, as he wanders the streets of Dublin. The date the novel is set, June 16, 1904, is affectionately celebrated in Ireland every year as “Bloomsday”, when devoted Joyceans dress in the fashions of the day and celebrate at venues and pubs mentioned in the book.

In 1993, the Rosenbach Museum in Philadelphia commissioned Bolger to adapt the novel for the stage, as part of their celebrations for the 90th anniversary of “Bloomsday” the following year.

He had hoped to bring the adaptation to Dublin, where copyright on the novel had originally expired in 1991, 50 years after Joyce’s death.

But within two years EU copyright law

ern Dublin-quickly gave up hope of staging his adaptation in the Irish capital, given that Joyce’s descendants have always kept a tight rein on the rights to his work.

That is, until last year, when Andy Arnold, the artistic director of the Tron Theatre in Glasgow, Scotland, heard a radio interview with Bolger. Arnold, who was searching for someone to adapt

A handout picture shows actor Grant Smeaton performing a scene during a dress rehearsal of “Ulysses” theatre production, adapted by Dermot Bolger in Glasgow. — AFP was harmonised to bring it into line with German practice and the period was extended to 70 years. A staged reading of Bolger’s adaptation took place as planned in Philadelphia in 1994, but in Europe all Joyce’s work was once again subject to copyright protection. Bolgerhimself a writer and chronicler of mod-

“Ulysses”, was shocked to hear Bolger recount his doomed tale of bringing the novel to the stage. Soon afterwards he travelled to Dublin to convince Bolger to allow him to put the show on in Glasgow in 2012 when copyright protection expired once more. Bolger agreed, but also mooted a staging in Ireland.

Last month, Bolger’s adaptation, with minor changes to the 1994 version, premiered in Glasgow before moving to Belfast in Northern Ireland. This week the play is running for six nights in the Project Arts Centre in Dublin, with the theatre adding extra seats due to demand. “Joyce joked that if Dublin was demolished that it could be rebuilt using ‘Ulysses’. There’s an extraordinary precision and exactitude in Joyce’s description of the city,” Bolger said. Bolger’s adaptation of the work is a dream-like recreation of the 265,000-word novel with a cast of eight actors playing 80 characters. The expiry of copyright has also led to a renaissance of interest in staging works by Joyce, who penned just one play in his lifetime: “Exiles”. The Abbey Theatre, Ireland’s national theatre, is staging an adaptation of Joyce’s short story “The Dead” in December. Last month, a version of “Dubliners” featured in the Dublin Theatre festival.

“Suddenly, there is huge theatrical scope for the work of Joyce, which people are starting to explore,” Bolger said.

He played down the reputation of “Ulysses” as a difficult book. “Only two types of people should even attempt to adapt ‘Ulysses’. One: geniuses who know everything about ‘Ulysses’. And two: ordinary writers and readers a little mad like myself,” Bolger joked. “I came to it not as a Joycean scholar. I’m a Dubliner and I am just fascinated by the central characters in this book.” He added: “There’s a mystique built up around ‘Ulysses’ as an impenetrable book, but at its heart there’s an extraordinary human story and I wanted to get to that.” — AFP

Picasso

sells for $41.5m in NY A woman walks past a mural depicting the Beatles wearing bandanas in Central London on November 8, 2012. — AFP

‘Twilight’ Star Ashley Greene eyed for horror film

‘T

wilight’ star Ashley Greene is being eyed for The Weinstein Company’s much-awaited horror feature “Kristy,” now being referred to as “Satanic,” TheWrap has learned. Best known for playing Alice Cullen in the “Twilight” franchise, Greene would join Haley Bennett in the film, which is being produced by The Weinstein Company, along with David Kirschner (“Child’s Play” franchise); Corey Sienega (“Frailty”, “Bride of Chucky”); Jamie Patricof and Lynette Howell (“Blue Valentine”, “Place Beyond the Pines”).

Oliver Blackburn (“Donkey Punch”) is directing from a script by Anthony Jaswinski (“Vanishing on Seventh Street”, “See No Evil”). Described as being in the vein of

“Rosemary’s Baby,” the story follows a group of college students who are attacked in their dormitory over Thanksgiving break. One girl must lead her friends on a mission of survival and discover the identity of their mysterious attackers. The film is expected to film in New Orleans from mid-November through much of December, according to a listing with Louisiana Entertainment which handles local film shoots. The Weinstein Company did not respond to requests from TheWrap for comment. TWC was also promoting a number of other projects to buyers at the AFM, including its “Untitled Chef Project” from director Derek Cianfrance.

— Reuters

A

n erotically charged Picasso oil painting of his mistress alongside tulips and fruit sold Thursday for $41.5 million on an otherwise anemic night for highend art in New York. “Nature morte aux tulipes,” painted in 1932, was the star of Sotheby’s Impressionist and modern art sale in Manhattan.

The pre-sale estimate for the work had been between $35 million and $50 million. The painting depicts the head of Marie-Therese Walter, who was Picasso’s lover and famous muse, poised over a suggestive flower arrangement.

Its sale was one of the few bright spots for Sotheby’s, with 30 percent of lots failing to sell and the total haul of the evening amounting to $163 millionóbelow the low end of the overall $169-245 million estimate. This followed a similar performance at the Christie’s auction on Wednesday. Another of the Marie-Therese series offered by Sotheby’s, “Femme a la fenetre (Marie-Therese),” sold for $17.2 million, inside the $15-20 million esti-

mate. Other successes included the $12.1 million paid for “Champ de ble” by Claude Monet, well above the $5-7 million estimate. Paul Cezanne’s “Femme nue debout” went for $5.3 million, inside the estimate, and Henry Moore’s sculpture “Two piece reclining figure No. 1” sold for $4.7 million, at the high end of its estimate. However, numerous works failed to find buyers, including Picasso’s “Plant de tomate,” estimated to sell for $1015 million, and the same artist’s “Femme a la robe verte,” which was listed at $6-8 million. Cezanne’s “La femme a l’hermine,” which had been hoped to fetch between $5 million and $7 million, also flopped.

On Wednesday, Christie’s in New York sold a Monet water lily painting for $43.8 million and saw a painting

by Wassily Kandinsky sell for an auction record of $23 million. However, the auction overall was seen as relatively muted, with a third of works not selling. Next week, the rival auction houses hold their contemporary art sales. — AFP

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2012

In this file photo gallery curator Anna Wolska presents a photo of Marylin Monroe by the late celebrity photographer Milton H Greene, in Warsaw, Poland. — AP photos

In this file photo gallery curator Anna Wolska presents a photo of Marylin Monroe and Arthur Miller.

Marilyn Monroe photos on auction in Poland W

ho doesn’t want a picture of Marilyn Monroe? Hundreds of photographs of the blonde bombshell and other celebrities, including famous ones of Monroe in bed and as a ballerina, were sold for some $750,000 Thursday evening at an auction house in Poland. Bidders and spectators packed the Desa Unicum house in Warsaw, where 238 pictures by the late American

Two photos of Marylin Monroe by the late celebrity photographer Milton H Greene are pictured among boxes containing more pictures.

fashion and celebrity photographer Milton H Greene were up for sale. Only one remained unsold, among some 500 bidders.

The auction house said in a statement that the 2.4 million zlotys obtained made it the nation’s biggest photo auction to date. Most of these pictures of Monroe were taken from 1953 to 1957 when Greene was her advisor and business partner. He made many of the prints during Monroe’s lifetime and they are highly valued by collectors. They include series of refined black-and-white studio photos and shots taken in natural surroundings, sometime in provocative poses, some in color.

As the bidding began, a black-andwhite photo of a reclining Monroe in black stockings sold for 50,000 zlotys ($16,000), and another of her in a ballerina’s dress sold for almost $20,000. A picture of her in bed sold for $8,500. The auction also offered Greene’s pictures of other stars, like Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly, Marlene Dietrich and Liza Minnelli.

A picture of Nelly Nyad in white veil was among the bestsellers, at some $14,000, the auction house said.

Other greats in the vast portrait collection, which had been estimated at $680,000, included Cary Grant, Frank Sinatra, Paul Newman, Alfred Hitchcock and Marlon Brando. The photos come from a collection of some 4,000 Greene pictures that Poland obtained from Chicago businessman Dino Matingas in the mid-1990s as the result of a complex communist-era embezzlement scandal linked to the buy-out of Poland’s state debt. Proceeds from the auction will go to the Polish government. Some of the images have never been published before, according to Marta Maciazek, the Polish official in charge of cleaning up the mess from the corruption affair. Many

A bidder looks at Marylin Monroe photos. bidders were disappointed to be left empty handed after starting prices of just 500 zlotys ($120) skyrocketed. “I’m very disappointed, I was hoping to buy a picture for myself because she is gorgeous, but it just went far beyond my possibilities. Pity,” said Jerzy Derczyk. — AP

Photo gallery curator Anna Wolska presents a photo of Marylin Monroe.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2012

S

panish actor Javier Bardem, who plays the villain in the latest 007 movie, got his own star on the storied Hollywood Walk of Fame on Thursday, two days before the US release of “Skyfall.” The Oscar-winning star was joined by director Sam Mendes, who lavished praise on him, while Bardem paid tribute to British fellow cast member Daniel Craig in his latest turn as James Bond. “You will not be disappointed. The great Sam Mendes has done an amazing movie... Daniel Craig is, as you know, an extraordinary,” he told reporters at the star-unveiling ceremony on Hollywood Boulevard.

“I had a lot of fun playing Silva because he’s a fun character to play,” he said, referring to his blond-haired baddie character in the new movie, which came out in Europe last month. Also on hand were Bond girls Berenice Marlohe and Naomie Harris, who co-star in the new Bond movie, which has won rave reviews. Bardem was the first Spaniard to be nominated for an Academy Award and the first to win one, for best supporting actor in the 2007 film “No Country for Old Men.” Married to actress Penelope Cruz, he got his first English-speaking role in “Before Night Falls” by director Julian Schnabel in 2000, and has since made his mark firmly on the big screen internationally. “I’m really embarrassed... especially now that I have to speak English with all these people looking at me and taking pictures, hoping for me to say something brilliant, which I’m not gonna say,” he said.

Mendes recounted how Bardem was chosen for the Bond villain role. “I said well maybe, I thought, ‘It’s crazy, look at him, he looks fantastic,’” Mendes recalled. “But I said OK, let’s have a look, let’s pre-test it. “He came in a week later and not one person recognized him. “He walked to the camera with different hair, different face, different eyes... he just looked to the camera and he was someone else. “And all that work is crystallized in one second, and that really is what it is to be a great actor,” added the British director. — AFP

W

hen they first hit the road as an opening act the members of Lady Antebellum rarely wasted their downtime, quizzing stars like Kenny Chesney and Keith Urban and their crews on the intricacies of a successful arena tour. They employed everything they learned on their first headlining tour this year, selling more than a million tickets and visiting 11 countries. That success on the Own The Night tour earned them the breakthrough award at the 2012 Billboard Touring Awards on Thursday night in New York City.

“I think for us, once you’ve found out ... who had won it the previous two years with Lady Gaga and Jason Aldean, I think it definitely made it even mean a little bit more,” Lady A’s Charles Kelley said in a phone interview.

Actor Javier Bardem (second left) poses at a ceremony following the unveiling of his Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on November 8, 2012 in Hollywood, California. — AFP

“Hopefully, we’re going to be in that company of big touring acts.” The Nashville trio wasn’t able to make it to New York for the awards because a storm left travel too dangerous. Chesney made the trip, though, and accepted two awards at the Roosevelt Hotel: the Road Warrior award and the top package tour. The Road Warrior honor is bestowed on an artist who shows uncommon work ethic, professionalism and artistic integrity on the road. Chesney won his eighth package award for his Brothers of the Sun stadium tour with Tim McGraw, Grace Potter & The Nocturnals and Jake Owen.—AP

In this file photo, cast member Mark Wahlberg arrives at the premiere for “Ted,” in Los Angeles. — AP

W

This file photo shows members of the band Lady Antebellum (from left) Dave Haywood, Hillary Scott and Charles Kelley at the 46th Annual Country Music Awards at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn. — AP

ahlberg, roll out. “Transformers” director Michael Bay says the 41year-old actor will star in the franchise’s fourth film. Bay called Wahlberg the “perfect guy to re-invigorate the franchise and carry on the Transformers’ legacy” in a post on his blog Thursday. He previously squashed rumors that Wahlberg was joining the film franchise about warring robots. Bay worked with Wahlberg on his upcoming film, “Pain and Gain.” “Transformers 4” is scheduled to be released by Paramount Pictures on June 27, 2014. Bay has said the

next film will take a new direction in the series. The first three movies starred Shia LaBeouf and featured Peter Cullen as the voice of Autobot general Optimus Prime.

The third “Transformers” film, “Dark of the Moon,” was the second highest-grossing film of 2011. — AP

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2012

A

newly discovered collection of still photos from Alfred Hitchcock’s lost silent film “The Mountain Eagle” is going up for auction in Los Angeles next month. On Thursday, auction house Profiles in History said the 59 photos were made for the British thriller director’s personal archive in the 1920s.

Thirty-five of the photos come from Hitchcock’s 1929 silent film “The Manxman,” and 24 from “The Mountain Eagle,” which are expected to attract the most interest. The photos are expected to fetch more than $25,000 at the Dec. 15-16 auction.

Profiles in History described them as a rare Hollywood treas-

B

ig surprise: politics is a dirty game, and many political operatives are roughand-tumble behind the scenes. Pat Nixon, wife to former President Richard Nixon, apparently learned this the hard way.

Playwright Douglas McGrath has skillfully imagined Pat’s early, ladylike feistiness as Nixon’s loyal political partner in his spirited new play, “Checkers.” Anthony LaPaglia and Kathryn Erbe are quite effective as the Nixons, in the world premiere of McGrath’s fascinating drama that opened Thursday night at the Vineyard Theatre.

The couple is primarily shown during the 1952 presidential campaign, when Nixon was Eisenhower’s vice presidential running mate. Together, Pat and Dick battle the hostile media and backstabbing Republican political operatives, after a secret campaign slush fund is discovered, with Pat preferring a behind-the-scenes role passing out campaign buttons while Dick gives speeches.

The play starts and ends in 1966, when they argue about whether Nixon should make a run at the presidency.

A series of rapid-fire scenes, with puppetstring-pulling Republican operatives situated high atop the set, are tightly directed by Terry Kinney. The 1952 vignettes take place during a whistlestop train campaign, as, via clever projections and swift scene changes, Kinney zooms from train car to hotel rooms to coffee shops, and always back to the train.

LaPaglia is accurately bull-doggish and defensive as Nixon, who’s fighting to stay on the ticket and anxiously awaiting a muchdelayed, expectedly reassuring phone call from Ike. With shoulders hunched and brows lowered, LaPaglia deploys mannerisms and speech patterns eerily reminiscent of the real Nixon, who’s described in the play by

ure, and a window into one of the most searched-for lost films in history. No prints have been found of Hitchcock’s 1926 film “The Mountain Eagle,” which is one of the top movies in the British Film Institute’s quest for lost films. Only a few still photos have turned up of the black and white film, which Hitchcock described as “awful.”

Researchers have said it was set in Kentucky, but filmed in Austria. The plot revolved around a wicked father, a crippled son and a teacher. The auction house declined to name the seller, saying the photos came from a source close to Hitchcock who had

Eisenhower as being an “odd combination of ruthless and insincere.”

Erbe is loyal and spunky as Pat, perkily coiffed in period outfits that create a modestly stylish, mid-20th-century ambience. Her skillful performance includes several emotional speeches in which Pat buoys up her attimes despairing husband. She reminds him why she and the public admire him, and tries to prevent him from going negative in public by wisely counseling, “But resentment is not a good governing ideal.” Erbe affectingly shows Pat’s inner anguish during Dick’s unprecedented 1952 Checkers speech, in which he details their personal finances on TV in a bid for public sympathy.

Lewis J. Stadlen is brusque, vulgar and a real scene-stealer as Nixon’s close advisor, Murray Chotiner. Chotiner is as Machiavellian as the slimy, crude Republican staffers, portrayed with relish by Robert Stanton and Kevin O’Rourke. They intensely dislike Nixon, referring to him disdainfully as “that human oil stain.” About the rudest thing Pat says about these operatives is, “I hate these people. They’re worse than Democrats.”

McGrath’s compelling play, full of candid language, casual ethnic slurs and a behindthe-political-scenes feel, is ultimately about the delicate goodness and waning idealism of Pat. In the final scene, when Dick makes a life-changing decision, Erbe makes some intensely bitter remarks about being a political wife. She leaves us with an indelible image of a woman who will continue on her chosen path, indomitable even in heartbreak. — AP

This image shows Kathryn Erbe (left) and Anthony LaPaglia, in a scene from Douglas McGrath’s drama, “Checkers”, performing off-Broadway at the Vineyard Theatre in New York. — AP

saved them for decades, unaware of which films they came from.

“The Mountain Eagle” was the second of Hitchcock’s more than 50 films. He is best known for his classic thrillers, including “Psycho” and “The Birds.” Hitchcock died in 1980 at the age of 80.

His legacy is being re-examined in the upcoming feature film “Hitchcock,” starring Anthony Hopkins, and the HBO film “The Girl” starring Toby Jones as the master of suspense. — Reuters

This theater image shows Lilla Crawford in the title role of the musical “Annie,” in New York. — AP

I

t is an odd thing indeed to watch Sandy get a huge ovation from New Yorkers. But in a quirk of timing, the storm that has caused so much misery across the city also shares its name with a hairy mutt who stars in a new Broadway revival of “Annie.” Thankfully, theatergoers are a forgiving sort and the Sandy who bounds about onstage at the Palace Theatre produces mostly appreciative coos - one of the highlights of a somewhat uneven revival that opened Thursday.

The slow-to-start musical features an appealing 11-year-old Lilla Crawford in the title role, an overcooked Katie Finneran as Miss Hannigan and a first-rate Anthony Warlow as Daddy Warbucks.

James Lapine grounds the most rejiggered show in history - a Great Depression, homelessness on the Lower East Side, soup kitchens and hungry orphans - that may seem virtually documentary these days.

Finneran and Warlow seem to be in different shows. If you missed her in her Tony Award-winning turn as a daffy, drunken floozy in “Promises, Promises,” she reprises it here. In fact, she does very little new, right down to her stretching out words by plunging her voice deep at the end of thoughts and stretching her body onto every piece of furniture. A gifted comedic actress, she is on autopilot here.

If Finneran is big and brassy and broad, Warlow is the opposite. This Australian actor brings gravitas and a sumptuous voice to Warbucks. His is a performance of subtlety, of small eyebrow movements - the only thing blustery is his Noo Yawk accent, nailed. Perhaps the reason the first half drags is he’s not in it much.

The music by Charles Strouse with lyrics by Martin Charnin contains gems like “You’re Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile” and “Tomorrow,” reminding everyone why even Jay-Z came call-

ing to lift something from “It’s the Hard Knock Life.” Thomas Meehan’s sugary story stands the test of time, even if it sags in spots. In addition to Sandy - actually played by a terrier mix called Sunny in most shows - “Annie” gets a huge lift from David Korins’ smart, industrious sets, in which the walls of houses move like pages in a book, spiral staircases soar upward, a limo accordians out from a smaller car delightfully, and the grimness of poverty is made stark by a blackand-white Brooklyn Bridge and a homeless camp.

Andy Blankenbuehler’s choreography is solid and seamless without being particularly memorable. He’s most effective with the orphans and servants at Warbucks’ home. He’s also choreographed what is basically a gauntlet of beggers as Warbucks and Annie go to the movies singing “NYC.” While Crawford is excellent, as is usually the case with “Annie,” a younger orphan often steals your heart. In this show, that would be Emily Rosenfeld as Molly, who is cuter than a dump truck of plush teddy bears.

If gritty, tap-dancing orphans running from police and tweaking the highest of authority figures in a grim lower Manhattan sounds familiar, you’re not wrong. The pretty great “Newsies” has all that, too. But “Annie” has something that all New Yorkers can hum after Superstorm Sandy: “The sun’ll come out tomorrow/bet your bottom dollar/that tomorrow there’ll be sun!” — AP

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2012

Pictures of Japanese artist Yoko Ono are displayed on November 8, 2012 in Paris during the opening of a photo exhibition entitled “Little Black Jacket” by Chanel’s creative director, Karl Lagerfeld. — AFP

Chanel’s creative director Karl Lagerfeld poses on November 8, 2012 before the opening of his photo exhibition entitled “Little Black Jacket” at the Grand Palais in Paris. — AFP

S

is in great shape, I work every day with him and I can assure you that he is doing very well,” Pavlovsky said, adding that relations between Chanel and him had always been excellent.

“Of course one day there will be an after-Karl but Karl will have made Chanel so strong, with such strong codes that Chanel will find solutions,” Pavlovsky said. The executive said Chanel, owned by the Wertheimer family, was doing well overall and expected 2012 to be another “good year” in spite of the global downturn which has affected many of its rivals including LVMH, Burberry and Gucci owner PPR. However, he said the Chinese market was becoming more mature with growth levels in big cities such as Shanghai or Beijing becoming similar to that of European capitals or New York where Chanel has been for decades. “We are no longer in the 20-30 percent growth levels we had seen (in previous years in China),” he said.

“It can be more than 10 percent,” he said, referring to growth levels in big European cities. Pavlovsky said Chanel planned to finish the year with 10 boutiques in China and 182 globally. — Reuters

tar designer Karl Lagerfeld said the departure of Nicolas Ghesquiere from Balenciaga as artistic director to create his own brand with backing from LVMH’s Bernard Arnault would “not be a bad idea” as the group owned many old labels. “Perhaps Nicolas wants to have his own label, which is not a bad idea,” Lagerfeld told Reuters in an interview on Thursday.

“And it would not be a bad idea if somebody such as Bernard Arnault would invest in a new label because there are so many old labels (within the LVMH group),” Lagerfeld said about the chief executive of the world’s biggest luxury group. PPR, the French group which owns Balenciaga, shocked the fashion world by announcing this week the departure of Ghesquiere, who had been with the brand since 1997 and was the main architect of its revival.

The International Herald Tribune reported this week that one option for Ghesquiere was to create his own brand with the backing of Arnault, who controls LVMH, the world’s biggest luxury group, which owns many fashion brands including Louis Vuitton, Fendi and Celine. Founded by Cristobal Balenciaga in 1919, his eponymous brand thrived until the late 1960s and then lay dormant until Ghesquiere took over as designer. The brand started to expand worldwide after PPR acquired it in 2001.

Balenciaga did not explain Ghesquiere’s departure clearly when it made the announcement on Monday but it suggested the designer was longing for a new creative adventure. Lagerfeld, who runs his own brand on top of working as artistic director for LVMH’s Fendi and for privately owned Chanel, said he could not think about the succession. “We (my team and I) only think in terms of one collection after the next collection,” he said. “In fashion, I am very much against projection in the far away future.”

Lagerfeld was speaking at the opening of an exhibition at the Grand Palais in Paris of his photos of celebrities themed around Chanel’s “little black jacket,” who were styled by Carine Roitfeld, former editor of the French Vogue. The celebrities include artist Yoko Ono, John Lennon’s widow, film maker Sofia Coppola and actresses Kirsten Dunst and Milla Jojovich. “I am happy I can do both fashion and photography because there is a link between the two but it is a link which I refuse to analyse,” Lagerfeld said.

Pavlovsky Also present at the exhibition’s opening was Bruno Pavlovsky, president of Chanel’s fashion division, who like Lagerfeld would not be drawn too long on the subject of the designer’s succession. “Karl

Models wear creations by Keto Couture on the runway during a fashion show in Lagos, Nigeria, Thursday, Nov 8, 2012 as part of a Nigeria Fashion Week sponsored by the country’s tourism ministry. — AP photos

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2012

A model wears a creation by the Haitian designer Yolande Montas during the opening of Haiti Fashion Week in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Thursday, Nov 8, 2012.

— AP

A

merican TV reality stars Kim and Kourtney Kardashian are celebrating the UK launch of their clothing line - The Kardashian Kollection - with a VIP party in London. Kim, Kourtney and sister Khloe who didn’t attend the Thursday evening event because she’s busy filming the US version of “The X Factor” -

Kourtney Kardashian arrives for their Kardashian Kollection UK Launch at Acqua Club in central London, Thursday, Nov 8, 2012.

have teamed up with British clothing store Dorothy Perkins, which will stock the line.

At the launch, Kim Kardashian expressed hopes of one day opening their own store in London, saying “we would love to.” Kourtney added “we’ve been talking about it.” The Kardashian Kollection will be available

Kim Kardashian arrives for their Kardashian Kollection UK Launch at Acqua Club in central London.

immediately in more than 200 Dorothy Perkins stores in the UK. It will also be sold internationally to 11 other countries in the Middle East and Asia. - AP

Ella Henderson arrives.

Kim (right) and Kourtney Kardashian arrive for their Kardashian Kollection UK launch. — AP photos

technology

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2012

Iomega expands award-winning desktop network storage offerings New high performance two-drive network storage device DUBAI New high performance Iomega StorCenter px2-300d features diskless option or up to 6TBof hot swap storage capacity using secure, reliable Server Class drives for outstanding performance and high availability of data in a small form factor- perfect for small offices, work groups or advanced home networks.

New Iomega StorCenter(tm) ix4-300d ranges from diskless to 12TB of network storage, utilizing enterprise class EMC(r) storage technology for today’s SMBs and distributed enterprise.

Both network storage product lines protect and share all types of files locally and remotely with multiple cloud options for safety and convenience, including Iomega Personal Cloud technology.

The StorCenter px2-300d is the only network storage product in its class to support the McAfee VirusScan(tm) Enterprise product, including automatic antivirus scanning and cleaning. Improved performance: The StorCenter ix4-300d more than doubles the performance versus the previous ix4-300d (Cloud Edition) model.

Iomega Corporation, a global leader in data protection, yesterday announced the worldwide availability of the latest additions to Iomega’s award-winning lineup of network storage solutions: the new Iomega StorCenter px2-300d Network Storage, a high performance, Intel Atom powered double-drive desktop network storage device with up to 6TB of storage; and the new Iomega(r) StorCenter ix4-300d Network Storage, the next generation of Iomega’s popular StorCenter ix Series of versatile and easy-to-use four-drive desktop network storage appliances.

Designed for advanced users, small offices, small to medium-sized businesses and distributed enterprise, Iomega’s new StorCenter px2-300d and StorCenter ix4300d utilize EMC’s award-winning LifeLine operating system for cross-platform filesharing with seamless integration of security and convenience features such as RAID data protection, hot-swappable hard drives (only with the px2-300d), virtualized environment support, multiple cloud options for offsite data storage, antivirus protection (Only on px2-300d), Active Directory integration, advanced media sharing features and more. Both products are shipping with the Iomega’s very latest LifeLine release 3.4, which delivers significant enhancements and new features like improved Active Directory Support, a more efficient EXT4 file system, added MySQL Server support and added video surveillance capabilities.

“The new Iomega StorCenter px2 and ix4 desktop models offer an unparalleled balance of performance, simplicity and versatility in terms of data storage, sharing, and protection for today’s small and mid-sized businesses and remote enterprise offices,” said Mike Nikzad, Chief Operating Officer, Iomega Corporation. “These two new network storage products offer flexible storage capacity configurations that fit your business needs today and tomorrow, as well as easy access to the cloud for remote storage, dual Gigabit Ethernet connectivity for high

performance and a wealth of other business features that make these small network devices the backbone of any SMB’s data management plan.”

“Iomega’s high performance PX series of network storage products have proven themselves to be solid network storage implementations for our customers,” said Eli Zvi, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing, CompuTech International, a New York-based reseller specializing in SMB and government sales and a Premier Plus member of the Iomega ioclub, Iomega’s top tier program for resellers. “We are very pleased to see the addition of the doubledrive desktop StorCenter px2-300d, which gives our CompuTech International team an ideal option for customers that require a small easy-to-deploy, dependable, featurerich desktop NAS for their small business or remote office.”

“The small and medium business market for storage in Latin America is constantly growing,” said Fabio Gaia, General Manager of Officer Distibuidora, Iomega’s largest reseller partner in Latin America. “These new desktop network storage products from Iomega meet the sales channel expectations in terms of tailored capacity for the SMB market as well as delivering high performance at an affordable price.”

Flexible Configurations for the New Iomega StorCenter px2-300d and StorCenter ix4-300d. In addition to fully populated options utilizing 1TB,2TB and 3TB enterprise grade 7200 rpm hard drives for the px2-300d, and 1TB, 2TB and 3TB SATA II drives for the ix4-300d, both product lines also offer diskless models allowing users to use their own HDDs. Iomega is qualifying 4TB drives for future models in both lines. Core Capabilities of the New Iomega StorCenter px2-300d and StorCenter ix4-300d Among the many standard features of these two new product lines: Built-in cloud technology with choice

of EMC Atmos cloud connector, EMC Avamar data deduplication (StorCenter px2-300d models only), Mozy Pro, Amazon S3 and Iomega Personal Cloud technology.

Iomega Personal Cloud allows for remote access and sharing via a web-based computing architecture that connects your StorCenter unit to other individuals and/or devices via the Internet.

Advanced video surveillance storage and monitoring capabilities, including enhanced motion detection and alert notifications, as well as support for up to 16 camerasper each px2-300d and up to 8 cameras per each ix4-300d StorCenter NAS device.

Advanced data replication features allow for easy protection of files to and from

attached USB drives or any network share, including invited members of your Iomega Personal Cloud.

Cloud disaster recovery using two StorCenter units in different locations.

Automatic anti-virus scanning and cleaning using the included McAfee VirusScan Enterprise software. (StorCenter px2-300d models only) Compatible with virtualization environments: VMware(r), Microsoft(r) Windows(tm) Server (Hyper-V) and Citrix(r) XenServer(tm) certified.

Encrypted volumes allow you to further protect and secure your data from unauthorized access. (StorCenter px2-300d models only) Supports PC, Mac(r) and Linux(r) computing environments. Iomega Link iOS client application for remote viewing and control from your smart device. Simplified backup with Time Machine(r) support for Apple OS X users, Iomega QuikProtect for PC users.

Enhanced Active Directory integration, including Trusted Domain support Built-in UPnP(tm) DLNA Certified(r) Audio Video Media Server - stream content to a variety of media devices. Keep your customers and others up-to-date on your business by dropping your latest news files into convenient folders that automatically upload to your social media accounts, including Facebook, Flickr and YouTube.

Both the StorCenter px2-300d and ix4300d can help protect your business with the integrated SecureMind Surveillance Manager video management software, which delivers multi-channel live monitoring, video recording, and fast video playback with multiple IP cameras (cameras not included). With the built-in storage capacity, the archiving and retention capabilities of Iomega’s new network storage products are exceptional for capturing and storing surveillance video. Each StorCenter px2300d and ix4-300d includes one camera license free of charge.

Cuba arrests renowned blogger Yoani Sanchez HAVANA: A Cuban dissident blogger was arrested Thursday in Havana with several activists who were seeking information about opponents of the island’s communist regime thought to have been detained a day earlier.

Yoani Sanchez, whose “Generation Y” blog is read in 20 languages around the world, was among people arrested in front of a police station in the capital’s La Vibora district, according to pro-government blog Yohandry Fontana.

Yohandry Fontana, believed to have been set up by the government to counter Sanchez’s online efforts, is known for publishing information at the highest level of government, albeit unofficially. It said Elizardo Sanchez, a spokesman for the officially banned Cuban Commission for Human Rights, and dissident Guillermo Farinas, winner

of the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize in 2010, were arrested half an hour after Sanchez at the same location.

In a series of tweets, Yohandry Fontana said they had all been arrested for “public disorder and social indiscipline” in an action that was “deliberately mounted by US authorities.” Sanchez, a 37-year-old graduate of philology-the study of language in written historical sources, combining literature, history and linguistics-emigrated to Switzerland in 2002 with her family, but returned to Cuba two years later.

She was also arrested last month in southern Cuba, and was released 30 hours later. The Inter American Press Association, meanwhile, named Sanchez as its vice chair for Cuba, noting her “main task will be to monitor press freedom in her country.” —AFP

TECHNOLOGY

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2012

James, the robot that serves drinks with one arm MUNICH: The future stands about a half-metre tall and wears a silver bow tie. JAMES may only have one arm, but he uses it skillfully, purposefully reaching for a plastic bottle behind the counter and placing it in front of a visitor. To a polite “Thanks,” the robot responds, in the Queen’s English, with a tinny “Always a pleasure.”

“It’s important for us that the robot not only perform the task correctly, but also observe the person’s social needs,” explained the developer, Manuel Giuliani, during a demonstration for the press.

JAMES, which stands for Joint Action for Multimodal Embodied Social Systems, was programmed as a bartender for research purposes by the Munich Research and Transfer Institute for Software-Intensive Systems (fortiss). The robot is meant to be able to interact with humans in public spaces and quickly analyze various situations.

When two people are standing at the bar, for example, the bits-and-bytes bartender has to first serve the person who came first, while letting the second know that he or she will soon be served, too, Giuliani said.

This takes extra time, he noted, but efficiency is not allimportant. “The people are happy and that’s definitely important, too,” Giuliani said.

While service robots still amaze people in Germany, they have already been used for some time in Japan, pointed out Christian Kamburow, a research assistant at the Institute for Future Studies and Technology Assessment in Berlin. There they not only relieve people of bothersome tasks, but also have proven effective as social contacts for elderly people.

In Japan, at least, robots have found their niche.

“They’re accepted,” Kamburow said. Their future in Germany is uncertain, however. “We’re a society of

technology sceptics,” Kamburow said, noting that innovations were slow to catch on. Robots will not become common in Germany anytime soon, he predicted.

“Here it’s a question of what can be done by 2020,” said Markus Rickert, a developer at fortiss. The independent, not-for-profit academic research institute is associated with the Technical University of Munich, the shareholding partnership being divided equally among the university, the Bavarian government and the Fraunhofer Society, a Germany-based application-oriented research organization.

JAMES, meanwhile, does not seem concerned about his tough job prospects in Germany. He regularly peppers his performance with statements like “I’m tired,” and also makes a stab at humour. “I’ll tell you a robot joke: 10011011,” he says. “Ha ha. That was very funny.” — dpa

US sanctions Iran over Internet, media censorship Internet users in Iran unable to access Gmail accounts

SYDNEY: Pedestrian cross the street in downtown Sydney yesteday.

Australia scrapped a controversial plan to filter the Internet, saying it will instead block hundreds of websites identified by Interpol as among the worst child abuse sites. — AFP

Australia abandons Internet filter plan CANBERRA: The Australian government has abandoned its 5-year-old pledge to mandate a filter blocking child pornography and other objectionable Internet content. Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said Friday that instead of a compulsory filter being imposed, Internet service providers have agreed to block 1,400 child abuse websites on INTERPOL’s “worst of” list.

Three of Australia’s largest telecommunications companies - Telstra, Optus and Primus - have been blocking the listed sites since 2010. “We’ve actually reached agreement with the industry to block child pornography and we think that is a significant step forward,” Conroy told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.

Critics had said the proposed legislated filter would have put Australia in the same censorship league as China. Even the U.S. State Department expressed concerns about the proposed regulations, which would have been some of the most restrictive among the world’s democracies.

The new plan has a narrower focus on child abuse. The government’s proposed compulsory nationwide filter would have also banned a regularly updated list of sites that also carried extreme violence as well as detailed instructions in crime, drug use or terrorist acts.

Opponents argued that the filter would slow Internet speeds, erroneously block harmless sites and restrict free speech. Anti-censorship campaigner Geordie Guy welcomed the government reversal. He said the new agreement will have little impact on the availability of child abuse material which isn’t traded on the open Web. “While this is a much better result than any of the previous proposals that the government came up with, it’s still really unlikely to do much good,” Guy told ABC. The Internet Industry Association of Australia chief executive Peter Lee said he was “pleased that the government has now moved on” from the filter and had narrowed its focus to illegal child abuse. The Australian Electoral Lobby said the government’s agreement with ISPs fell short of its cyber safety pledge made during the 2007 election campaign.

“The government’s decision not to legislate to the full extent of the commitment is a great disappointment,” the Lobby’s Managing Director Jim Wallace said. But the opposition said the government realized it had no hope of getting the filter legislation through Parliament.

The Greens party, a key government ally, joined the opposition in condemning the mandatory filter proposal as a serious restriction of free speech. — AP

WASHINGTON: Washington unveiled sanctions Thursday against top Iranians and national bodies, including the communications minister and the culture ministry, hitting back for media and Internet censorship. The move against Communications Minister Reza Taghipour came after he was blamed for ordering the jamming of international satellite TV broadcasts and restricting Internet access, a State Department official said.

The United States was determined to stop the “Iranian government from creating an ‘electronic curtain’ to cut Iranian citizens off from the rest of the world,” said State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland. Four individuals and five bodies were placed under sanctions by both the State Department and the US Treasury for “censorship or other activities that prohibit, limit or penalize freedom of expression or assembly by citizens of Iran.”

They were also accused of limiting “access to print or broadcast media, including by jamming international satellite broadcasts into Iran,” Nuland said in a statement, denouncing the “regime’s insidious actions.”

Internet users in Iran were temporarily unable to access their Gmail accounts from late September to early October.

Mohammad Reza Miri, a member of the telecommunications ministry committee tasked with filtering the Internet in Iran, was quoted by the Mehr news agency as saying that the Gmail block was an “involuntary” consequence of trying to reinforce censorship of Google’s YouTube videosharing site.

“Unfortunately, we do not yet have enough technical knowhow to differentiate between these two services. We wanted to block YouTube and Gmail was also blocked, which was involuntary,” he said.

“We absolutely do not want YouTube to be accessible.”

Iran has censored YouTube since mid-2009, after opposition demonstrators protesting the re-election victory of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in polls they believed rigged started posting videos online of their gatherings.

Iran’s ministry of culture and Islamic guidance was also sanctioned for closing down newspapers and detaining journalists.

Other entities targeted included the Press Supervisory Board and the Center to Investigate Organized Crime, which helped “identify Internet users who published material insulting government officials,” the US Treasury said in a statement, adding some of the people were later arrested. “Finding that balance between preventing technology that could constrain and permitting technology that would expand their access to information is kind of a difficult question,” a senior State Department official told journalists.

Also included in the designations were Ali Fazli, a deputy commander of the Basij militia blamed for launching attacks on foreign websites, including foreign media organizations, and Iran police chief Esmail Ahmadi Moghaddam, who is in charge of tracking Internet activi-

ties in the country. Iranian software companies AmnAfzar Gostar-e Sharif and PeykAsa, as well as their founder, Rasool Jalili, were also targeted for monitoring Web traffic, including moves to block access to Facebook, eBay and YouTube.

The Iranian government was engaged in a campaign to “curtail” freedoms and “prevent the free flow of information both into and out of Iran,” Nuland said in her statement. “Countless activists, journalists, lawyers, students and artists have been detained, censured, tortured or forcibly prevented from exercising their human rights,” she added. The new designations resulted from an August 2012 act that came into force on Thursday and mean Americans are banned from doing any business with the targeted Iranians, who are also barred from traveling to the United States. Any of their assets in the United States will also be frozen. Other newly rolled out sanctions focused on individuals designated for sponsoring terrorism, in particular the Kata’ib Hezbollah group responsible for violent attacks in Iraq. A third tranche of the designations targeted the support network of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps-including the National Iranian Oil Company, which is already under sanctions, and two Tehran universities. — AFP

This video game image released by Activision shows a scene from “Call of Duty: Black Ops II.” When the latest installment in the wildly popular “Call of Duty” video game franchise is released on Nov 13, 2012, it will transport fans to a completely new place: the future. Setting half of “Call of Duty: Black Ops II” in the year 2025 could be the riskiest gambit yet for the successful shoot-’em-up series known for its relentless past-and-present realism. — AP

CINEMA

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2012

IKTUWA KNCC PROGRAM FROM THURSDAY TO WEDNESDAY (8/11/2012 TO 14/11/2012) SHARQIA-1 ALEX CROSS (DIG) HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) ALEX CROSS (DIG) HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) ALEX CROSS (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED SHARQIA-2 MISS MOMMY (DIG) LEGENDS OF VALHALLA: THOR WRECK-IT RALPH (DIG-3D) LEGENDS OF VALHALLA: THOR MISS MOMMY (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED SHARQIA-3 FLIGHT (DIG) FLIGHT (DIG) THE SWEENEY (DIG) FLIGHT (DIG) FLIGHT (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED MUHALAB-1 ALEX CROSS (DIG) HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) ALEX CROSS (DIG) THE SWEENEY (DIG) HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) ALEX CROSS (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED MUHALAB-2 MISS MOMMY (DIG) DAMARUKAM (DIG)(TELUGU) FRI FLIGHT (DIG) THU+SAT+MON FLIGHT (DIG) FLIGHT (DIG) FLIGHT (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

1:30 PM 3:30 PM 5:45 PM 8:00 PM 10:30 PM 12:45 AM

12:30 PM 2:30 PM 4:15 PM 6:30 PM 8:15 PM 10:15 PM 12:15 AM

2:00 PM 4:45 PM 7:30 PM 9:45 PM 12:30 AM

1:00 PM 3:30 PM 5:45 PM 8:00 PM 10:15 PM 12:30 AM

2:00 PM 4:00 PM 4:00 PM 7:15 PM 10:00 PM 12:45 AM

MUHALAB-3 LEGENDS OF VALHALLA: THOR WRECK-IT RALPH (DIG-3D) LEGENDS OF VALHALLA: THOR HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA(DIG-3D) MISS MOMMY (DIG MISS MOMMY (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

12:15 PM 2:30 PM 4:45 PM 6:30 PM 8:45 PM 10:45 PM 12:45 AM

FANAR-1 THE SWEENEY (DIG) THE SWEENEY (DIG) THE SWEENEY (DIG) THE SWEENEY (DIG) THE SWEENEY (DIG) THE SWEENEY (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

1:00 PM 3:15 PM 5:30 PM 7:45 PM 10:00 PM 12:15 AM

FANAR-2 WRECK-IT RALPH (DIG-3D) HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) WRECK-IT RALPH (DIG-3D) HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA(DIG-3D) HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

12:45 PM 3:00 PM 5:15 PM 7:30 PM 9:30 PM 11:45 PM

FANAR-3 ALEX CROSS (DIG) NO TUE+WED TAKEN2 :2D NO TUE+WED ALEX CROSS (DIG) NO TUE+WED PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 4 (DIG) NO TUE+WED ALEX CROSS (DIG) NO TUE+WED ALEX CROSS (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

1:45 PM 4:00 PM 6:15 PM 8:30 PM 10:45 PM 12:45 AM

FANAR-4 LEGENDS OF VALHALLA: THOR MISS MOMMY (DIG) LEGENDS OF VALHALLA: THOR LEGENDS OF VALHALLA: THOR MISS MOMMY (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED FANAR-5 FLIGHT FLIGHT FLIGHT FLIGHT FLIGHT NO SUN+TUE+WED MARINA-1 ALEX CROSS (DIG) ALEX CROSS (DIG) HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) LED ZEPPELIN: CELEBRATION DAY HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) ALEX CROSS (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED MARINA-2 FLIGHT (DIG) FLIGHT (DIG) THE SWEENEY (DIG) FLIGHT (DIG) FLIGHT (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED MARINA-3 HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA(DIG-3D) LEGENDS OF VALHALLA: THOR WRECK-IT RALPH (DIG-3D) LEGENDS OF VALHALLA: THOR MISS MOMMY (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

12:30 PM 2:30 PM 4:30 PM 6:15 PM 8:00 PM 10:00 PM 12:15 AM

1:30 PM 4:15 PM 7:00 PM 9:45 PM 12:30 AM

1:30 PM 3:30 PM 5:30 PM 7:45 PM 10:15 PM 12:30 AM

1:45 PM 4:30 PM 7:15 PM 9:30 PM 12:15 AM

1:00 PM 3:00 PM 4:45 PM 7:00 PM 8:45 PM 10:45 PM 12:45 AM

AVENUES-1 THE SWEENEY (DIG) 1:15 PM THE SWEENEY (DIG) 3:45 PM THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN - PART 1 (ReRelease) 6:15 PM THE SWEENEY (DIG) 8:45 PM THE SWEENEY (DIG) 11:15 PM AVENUES-2 ALEX CROSS (DIG) ALEX CROSS (DIG) ALEX CROSS (DIG) ALEX CROSS (DIG) ALEX CROSS (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

2:15 PM 4:30 PM 6:45 PM 9:00 PM 11:30 PM

AVENUES-3 FLIGHT (DIG) FLIGHT (DIG) FLIGHT (DIG) FLIGHT (DIG) FLIGHT (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

1:30 PM 4:15 PM 7:00 PM 9:45 PM 12:30 AM

AVENUES-4 HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

12:30 PM 2:45 PM 5:00 PM 7:15 PM 9:30 PM 11:45 PM

AVENUES-5 FLIGHT (DIG) FLIGHT (DIG) FLIGHT (DIG) FLIGHT (DIG) FLIGHT (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

1:30 PM 4:15 PM 7:00 PM 9:45 PM 12:30 AM

AVENUES-6 LEGENDS OF VALHALLA: THOR HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA(DIG-3D)

1:00 PM 3:15 PM

LEGENDS OF VALHALLA: THOR HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA(DIG-3D) LEGENDS OF VALHALLA: THOR ALEX CROSS (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED AVENUES-7 TAKEN2 :2D NO TUE+WED TAKEN2 :2D NO TUE+WED PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 4 (DIG) NO TUE+WED TAKEN2 :2D NO TUE+WED TAKEN2 :2D NO TUE+WED PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 4 (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED AVENUES-8 LOOPER (DIG) NO TUE+WED LED ZEPPELIN: CELEBRATION DAY NO TUE+WED LED ZEPPELIN: CELEBRATION DAY NO TUE+WED LED ZEPPELIN: CELEBRATION DAY NO TUE+WED LOOPER (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED AVENUES-9 WRECK-IT RALPH (DIG-3D) LEGENDS OF VALHALLA: THOR WRECK-IT RALPH (DIG-3D) WRECK-IT RALPH (DIG-3D) FLIGHT (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED AVENUES-10 HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) NO TUE+WED HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) NO TUE+WED HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) NO TUE+WED HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) NO TUE+WED HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) NO TUE+WED HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

5:30 PM 7:45 PM 10:00 PM 12:15 AM

LEGENDS OF VALHALLA: THOR LEGENDS OF VALHALLA: THOR LEGENDS OF VALHALLA: THOR TAKEN2 :2D TAKEN2 :2D NO SUN+TUE+WED

1:15 PM

360 º- 5 FLIGHT (DIG) SAT FLIGHT (DIG) NO THU THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE (Re- Release) FLIGHT (DIG) FLIGHT (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

3:30 PM 5:45 PM 8:00 PM 10:15 PM 12:30 AM

1:45 PM 4:00 PM

360º- 6 WRECK-IT RALPH (DIG-3D) WRECK-IT RALPH (DIG-3D) WRECK-IT RALPH (DIG-3D) WRECK-IT RALPH (DIG-3D) WRECK-IT RALPH (DIG-3D) HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

3:45 PM 6:00 PM 8:15 PM 10:30 PM 12:45 AM

1:30 PM 4:15 PM 7:00 PM 9:45 PM 12:30 AM

1:00 PM 3:15 PM 5:30 PM 7:45 PM 10:00 PM 12:15 AM

6:45 PM 9:15 PM 11:45 PM

2:00 PM 4:15 PM 6:30 PM 8:45 PM 11:00 PM

12:30 PM 2:45 PM 5:00 PM 7:15 PM 9:30 PM 11:45 PM

AVENUES-11 MISS MOMMY (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

12:45 PM 3:00 PM 5:15 PM 7:30 PM 9:45 PM 12:05 AM

360 º- 1 FLIGHT (DIG) FLIGHT (DIG) FLIGHT (DIG) FLIGHT (DIG) FLIGHT (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

12:30 PM 3:15 PM 6:00 PM 8:45 PM 11:30 PM

360 º- 2 ALEX CROSS (DIG) ALEX CROSS (DIG) ALEX CROSS (DIG) ALEX CROSS (DIG) ALEX CROSS (DIG) ALEX CROSS (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

1:15 PM 3:30 PM 5:45 PM 8:00 PM 10:15 PM 12:30 AM

360 º- 3 HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA(DIG-3D) HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA(DIG-3D) HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA(DIG-3D) HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA(DIG-3D) ALEX CROSS (DIG)

2:00 PM 4:15 PM 6:30 PM 8:45 PM 11:15 PM

360 º- 4 LEGENDS OF VALHALLA: THOR

1:30 PM

360 º- 7 TAKEN2 :2D TAKEN2 :2D TAKEN2 :2D TAKEN2 :2D TAKEN2 :2D 360 º- 8 HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) NO TUE+WED HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) NO TUE+WED HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) NO TUE+WED HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) NO TUE+WED HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) NO TUE+WED HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

2:30 PM 4:45 PM 7:00 PM 9:15 PM 11:30 PM 1:45 PM 4:00 PM 6:15 PM 8:30 PM 10:45 PM 1:00 AM

360 º- 9(VIP-1) HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

1:45 PM 4:00 PM 6:15 PM 8:30 PM 10:45 PM 1:00 AM

360 º-10(VIP-2) FLIGHT (DIG) FLIGHT (DIG) FLIGHT (DIG) FLIGHT (DIG) FLIGHT (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

12:30 PM 3:15 PM 6:00 PM 8:45 PM 11:30 PM

360 º- 11 THE SWEENEY (DIG) THE SWEENEY (DIG) THE SWEENEY (DIG) THE SWEENEY (DIG) THE SWEENEY (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

2:15 PM 4:45 PM 7:15 PM 9:45 PM 12:15 AM

360 º- 12 MISS MOMMY (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

2:00 PM 4:15 PM 6:30 PM 8:45 PM 11:00 PM 1:15 AM

360 º- 13 THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN THE DARK KNIGHT RISES RESIDENT EVIL: RETRIBUTION THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN RESIDENT EVIL: RETRIBUTION NO SUN+TUE+WED

1:15 PM 4:00 PM 7:30 PM 9:45 PM 12:30 AM

TV listings

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2012

00:50 01:45 02:35 03:25 04:15 05:05 05:55 06:20 06:45 07:35 08:00 08:25 09:15 10:10 11:05 11:30 12:00 12:25 12:55 13:50 14:45 15:40 16:35 17:30 18:25 19:20 20:15 21:10 22:05 23:00 23:55

Animal Cops Phoenix Buggin’ With Ruud I’m Alive Rogue Sharks Monster Bug Wars Wildest India Wild Britain With Ray Mears Orangutan Island Michaela’s Animal Road Trip Wildlife SOS Talk To The Animals Cats 101 Crocodile Hunter Michaela’s Animal Road Trip Dick ‘n’ Dom Go Wild Breed All About It Natural Born Hunters The Really Wild Show Wild France The Magic Of The Big Blue Animal ER Animal ER Animal ER Animal ER Animal ER Wild France Wild France Africa’s Super Seven Wild France Bad Dog Baboons With Bill Bailey

00:00 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition 00:45 Come Dine With Me 01:35 Antiques Roadshow 02:25 Fantasy Homes In The City 03:10 Fantasy Homes In The City 03:50 Living In The Sun 04:45 House Swap 05:30 Saturday Kitchen 2008/09 05:55 Living In The Sun 06:50 House Swap 08:00 Antiques Roadshow 08:50 Antiques Roadshow 09:40 Antiques Roadshow 10:35 Antiques Roadshow 11:30 Antiques Roadshow 12:25 Baking Made Easy 12:55 Baking Mad With Eric Lanlard 13:20 Baking Mad With Eric Lanlard 13:45 The Hairy Bakers 14:15 Come Dine With Me 15:05 Bargain Hunt 15:50 Bargain Hunt 16:35 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition 17:15 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition 18:00 Baking Made Easy 18:30 Antiques Roadshow 19:20 Antiques Roadshow 20:10 Antiques Roadshow 21:05 Antiques Roadshow 22:00 Cash In The Attic 22:45 Cash In The Attic 23:30 Bargain Hunt

00:40 Chowder 01:30 Bakugan Battle Brawlers 01:55 Bakugan Battle Brawlers 02:20 Foster’s Home For...

02:45 Foster’s Home For...

03:10 Courage The Cowardly Dog 04:00 The Amazing World Of Gumball 04:25 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 04:50 Adventure Time 05:15 The Powerpuff Girls 05:40 Generator Rex 06:05 Ben 10 06:30 Ben 10 06:55 Angelo Rules 07:00 Ed, Edd n Eddy 07:30 Casper’s Scare School 08:00 The Marvelous Misadventures...

08:25 Redakai: Conquer The Kairu 08:45 Grim Adventures Of...

09:35 Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated 09:55 Level Up 10:15 Batman: The Brave And The Bold 10:35 Transformers Prime 11:00 Ben 10: Omniverse 11:25 Thundercats 11:50 Regular Show 12:15 Adventure Time 12:40 The Amazing World Of Gumball

13:05 Johnny Test 13:30 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 13:55 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 14:20 The Powerpuff Girls 15:10 Green Lantern: The Animated Series 15:35 Transformers Prime 16:00 Angelo Rules 16:50 Ben 10: Omniverse 17:15 Generator Rex 17:40 Eliot Kid 18:30 Regular Show 19:20 Adventure Time 19:45 The Amazing World Of Gumball 20:10 Johnny Test 20:35 Ben 10: Alien Force 21:00 Ben 10: Alien Force 21:25 The Powerpuff Girls 22:15 Grim Adventures Of...

23:00 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 23:25 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 23:50 The Powerpuff Girls

00:00 02:00 04:00 06:00 08:30 10:15 12:00 14:00 16:00 18:00 19:45 22:00

Re-Kill-PG15 Icarus-18 Resident Evil 4: Afterlife-18 Master And Commander-PG15 Twins Mission-PG15 Inside Out-PG15 Transporter 2-PG15 Twins Mission-PG15 Battle: Los Angeles-PG15 Transporter 2-PG15 The Town-18 Carjacked-PG15

01:00 03:00 05:00 07:00 09:00

Ways To Live Forever-PG15 Feed The Fish-PG15 Elevator Girl-PG15 Chasing 3000-PG15 Feed The Fish-PG15

11:00 13:00 15:00 17:00 19:00 21:00 23:00

Ways To Live Forever-PG15 9-PG Stolen Lives-PG15 Honey 2-PG15 Toast-PG15 Awaydays-18 Spread-R

00:30 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 01:00 The Colbert Report 01:30 Weeds 02:00 Girls 02:30 Louie 03:00 Raising Hope 03:30 Last Man Standing 04:00 Samantha Who? 04:30 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 05:30 Seinfeld 06:00 Seinfeld 06:30 Friends 07:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 08:00 Samantha Who? 08:30 Raising Hope 09:00 Seinfeld 09:30 Seinfeld 10:00 Whitney 10:30 Community 11:00 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 12:00 Friends 12:30 Samantha Who? 13:00 Seinfeld 13:30 Seinfeld 14:00 Last Man Standing 14:30 Community 15:00 Whitney 15:30 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 16:00 The Colbert Report 16:30 Friends 17:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 18:00 Raising Hope 18:30 Last Man Standing

19:00 Whitney 19:30 Parks And Recreation 20:00 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 21:00 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 21:30 The Colbert Report 22:00 Saturday Night Live 23:00 Louie 23:30 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon

00:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 07:30 08:00 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 12:30 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 16:30 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

Parenthood Survivor: Philippines Perception Justified The X Factor U.S. Perception Parenthood Emmerdale Coronation Street C.S.I. New York Glee The X Factor U.S. Survivor: Philippines Emmerdale Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show C.S.I. New York Parenthood Emmerdale Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show C.S.I. New York Bones C.S.I. C.S.I. Miami Breakout Kings Downton Abbey

00:45 Saving Private Ryan-18 03:45 Tupac: Resurrection-18 05:45 Batman: Year One-PG15

07:00 Star Trek: First Contact-PG 09:00 Shanghai Noon-PG15 11:00 Batman: Year One-PG15 12:30 Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Pt.1-PG15 15:00 Shanghai Noon-PG15 17:00 Windtalkers-PG15 19:15 Paintball-18 21:00 Carjacked-PG15 23:00 RoboCop 2-PG15

00:00 02:00 04:00 06:00 08:00 10:00 12:00 14:00 16:00 18:00 20:00 22:00

Idle Hands-18 Next Friday-18 Prom-PG15 Cheaper By The Dozen-PG Last Holiday-PG15 Zookeeper-PG15 Cheaper By The Dozen 2-PG Evan Almighty-PG15 Zookeeper-PG15 Loser-PG15 Dinner For Schmucks-PG15 40 Days And 40 Nights-18

01:00 03:15 05:15 06:45 09:00 11:00 13:00 15:00 17:15 19:00 21:00 23:15

Evita-PG Blue Valentine-18 Talhotblond-18 Lorenzo’s Oil-PG15 Jane Eyre-PG15 Country Strong-PG15 Oceans-PG15 Jane Eyre-PG15 Soldier Love Story-PG15 Top Gun-PG15 Broken Embraces-18 Romeo Is Bleeding-18

00:00 127 Hours-PG15 02:00 Footloose-PG15 04:00 Zookeeper-PG15 05:45 Sammy’s Adventure: The Secret Passage-FAM 07:15 Page Eight-PG15 09:00 Cars 2-FAM 11:00 Alabama Moon-PG15 12:45 Diary Of A Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules-PG 14:30 Gulliver’s Travels-PG 16:00 Cars 2-FAM 18:00 The Artist-PG 20:00 Prime Mover-PG15

00:00 Wuthering Heights-18 02:15 The Dragon Chronicles: Fire & Ice-PG15 04:00 The Birth Of Big Air-PG15 06:00 Swansong: Story Of Occi ByrnePG15 08:00 The Adventures Of Tintin-PG 09:45 Transformers: Dark Of The Moon-PG15 12:15 Source Code-PG15 14:00 Take Shelter-PG15 16:00 The Adventures Of Tintin-PG 17:45 Real Steel-PG15 20:00 Prime Mover-PG15 22:00 The Resident-18

INSIDE OUT ON OSN ACTION HD

01:00 03:00 11:00 12:00 17:00 17:30 19:30 20:30 22:30 23:00

Top 14 Live Test Cricket Trans World Sport PGA European Tour Live Rugby Matchday Live Rugby Union International Live Rugby Matchday Live Rugby Union International Live Rugby Matchday Live Rugby Union International

00:00 01:00 03:00 04:00 05:30 06:00 11:00 12:30 14:30 16:30 17:00 19:00 21:00 22:00

Trans World Sport WWE SmackDown WWE Bottom Line The Ryder Cup Official Film PGA European Tour Weekly Live PGA European Tour The Ryder Cup Official Film Top 14 Anglo Welsh LV Cup ICC Cricket 360 Live Rugby Union International Top 14 Trans World Sport Live Grand Slam of Darts

01:30 03:30 05:30 06:30 07:00 09:00 11:00 14:30 15:00 22:00

Anglo Welsh LV Cup Top 14 Golfing World Total Rugby Anglo Welsh LV Cup Top 14 Premier League Snooker ICC Cricket 360 Cricket Test Match Top 14

00:00 01:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 16:00 18:00 19:00 19:30 20:00 23:00

UFC The Ultimate Fighter WWE Smackdown WWE Bottom Line UFC Unleashed UFC The Ultimate Fighter UFC Unleashed WWE SmackDown WWE Bottom Line WWE Vintage Collection V8 Supercars Highlights V8 Supercars Highlights WWE Bottom Line WWE SmackDown Live Top 14 V8 Supercars Highlights UFC Prime Time UFC Prime Time UFC WWE SmackDown

00:15 01:10 02:05 03:00 03:55 04:20 04:50 05:15 05:40 06:05 07:00 07:25 08:15 09:10 10:05 10:55 11:50 12:45 13:40 14:35 15:30 16:25 17:20 18:15 19:10 20:05 21:00 21:55 22:50 23:45

Machines Of Glory World’s Top 5 Wheeler Dealers Mythbusters Border Security Dirty Money Auction Kings How Do They Do It? How It’s Made Extreme Fishing How It’s Made Airplane Repo Mega Builders Extreme Engineering Man-Made Marvels China Man, Woman, Wild Gold Rush Machines Of Glory World’s Top 5 Wheeler Dealers Dynamo: Magician Impossible Mythbusters Mythbusters You Have Been Warned Body Invaders Ultimate Survival Around The World In 80 Ways Deadliest Catch An Idiot Abroad American Guns

00:40 Gadget Show - World Tour 01:05 How Tech Works 01:35 The Colony 02:25 Building The Future 03:15 Engineering Ground Zero 04:05 Weird Connections 04:35 The Colony 05:25 Da Vinci’s Machines 06:15 Gadget Show - World Tour 06:40 How Tech Works 07:05 Meteorite Men 08:00 Building The Future 08:50 Things That Move 09:40 Head Rush 09:43 Sci-Fi Science 10:40 Robocar 11:30 Smash Lab 15:45 Through The Wormhole With Morgan Freeman 16:35 Things That Move 17:00 Head Rush 17:03 Tech Toys 360 18:00 Through The Wormhole With Morgan Freeman 18:50 Scrapheap Challenge 19:40 Build It Bigger: Rebuilding Greensburg 20:30 Meteorite Men 21:20 How Tech Works 22:10 Gadget Show - World Tour 23:00 Meteorite Men 23:50 Things That Move

WHAT’S ON SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2012

Embassy KKCA holds one-day picnic

C

hild wing of Kuwait Knanaya Cultural Association KKCL, conducted a one day picnic to Abdali for the children studying from 3rd Standard onwards. The picnic started at 9am and 137 children participated in the

event. Lots of games were included in the event to improve the knowledge and unity among the children. Lunch and snacks were distributed for the children. All the children enjoyed the picnic. Picnic came to an end around 5.30 pm.

Information EMBASSY OF AUSTRALIA The Australian Embassy Kuwait does not have a visa or immigration department. All processing of visas and immigration matters in conducted by The Australian ConsulateGeneral in Dubai.

Email: info.ausdxb@vfshelpline.com (VFS) immigration.dubai@dfat.gov.au (Visa Office); Tel: +971 4 355 1958 (VFS) - +971 4 508 7200 (Visa Office); Fax: +971 4 355 0708 (Visa Office). In Kuwait applications can be lodged at the Australian Visa Application Centre 4B 1st Floor, Al-Banwan Building Al-Qibla Area, Ali Al-Salem Street, opposite the Central Bank of Kuwait, Kuwait City, Kuwait. Working hours and days: 09:30 - 17:30; Sunday - Thursday. Or visit their website www.vfs-au-gcc-com for more information.

Kuwait citizens can apply for tourist visas on-line at www.immi.gov.au/e visa/e676.htm. nnnnnnn

EMBASSY OF ARGENTINE

Thrissur Association merit awards 2012

T

hrissur Association of Kuwait (TRASSK) will honor children of TRASSK members, who scored the highest marks in Std X and Std XII examinations during the Academic Year 2011 - 12.

The awards will be given away at the meg event ‘Maholsavam’ on November 23, 2012 at the American International School auditorium, Maidan Hawally, Kuwait.

The members whose children are eligible to consider for this meritorious award, kindly requested to submit the copy of the attested mark list to the Area Conveners before 15th November 2012. More information contact, 97551368.

SEND US YOUR INSTAGRAM PICS

W

hat’s more fun than clicking a beautiful picture? Sharing it with others!

This summer, let other people see the way you see Kuwait - through your lens. Friday Times will feature snapshots of Kuwait through Instagram feeds. If you want to share your Instagram photos, email us at instagram@kuwaittimes.net

Announcements KTAA meeting The Kuwait Textile Arts Association under the auspices of the Al Sadu House Takes pleasure in inviting you to an exciting evening with renowned fashion designer, Sonali Dharmawenda, as she shares the exotic art and world heritage craft at Batik Design from Sri Lanka. Come meet your 20122013 Executive Committee, sign up for quilt group and fibre arts group meetings and workshops galore. Also sign up for the KTAA Member Bazaar which will be held on the 24th of November. If you were a member last year, now is the time to renew’ If you have a friend who is interested, encourage her to join. You can pay at any one of our scheduled activities where there is always a KTAA member to welcome you.

‘Leniency of Islam’ An unprecedented initiative of KTV2 (English channel) is the new program by the name ‘Leniency of Islam’ presented by Shaikh Musaad Alsane and directed by Hamid Al-Turkait. The program is mainly meant to address the expatriates living in Kuwait. Religious questions are received through the program email qislam@tv.gov.kw and sms can be sent to- 97822021 and answered by the lecturer and Imam in Awqaf Ministry Shaikh Musaad Alsane - a Master Degree holder in Sharia and fiqih from Kuwait University. So don’t forget to watch the program every Friday at 1:00 pm.

Focus Kuwait 6th annual day As a part of the 6th anniversary celebrations, Forum of Cadd Users (FOCUS Kuwait), a non-political, non-religious organization is set to stage a mega cultural event “Focus Fest-2012”.

This mega event will be a blend of traditional and contemporary dance and musical extravaganza by renowned South Indian playback singers Jyotsna and Sudeesh. Scheduled for the afternoon of Friday, October 12, 2012, at the Al-Jeel AlJadeed School Auditorium, Hawally, the mega musical show, is expected to be a super-hit in Kuwait.

NAFO family picnic on Nov 15

O

n the happy occasion of Hijra the New Year, Thursday November 15, NAFO Kuwait is scheduled to conduct a family picnic for its members, their families, relatives and friends in a chalet at Wafra farm house.

The entire group will move from Salmiya in the morning, most probably in bus/buses, for the day-long fun-filled picnic.

Games and entertainment for all age groups have also been arranged to make the outing further more enjoyable.

Lunch and snacks will be served during the day. For more details, please contact NAFO officials: Anil (66408395) Satish (97701130), Madhu Menon (99017072, Subbaraman (66872372).

The Embassy of Argentina requests all Argentinean citizens in Kuwait to proceed to our official email ekuwa@mrecic.gov.ar in order to register or update contact information.

The embassy encourages all citizens to do so, including the ones who have already registered in person at the embassy. The registration process helps the Argentinean Government to contact and assist Argentineans living abroad in case of any emergency. nnnnnnn

EMBASSY OF BRITAIN Consular section at the British Embassy will be starting an online appointment booking system for our consular customers from Sunday, 01 July 2012. All information including how to make an appointment is now available on the embassy website. In addition, there is also a “Consular Appointment System” option under Quick links on the right hand side on the homepage, which should take you to the “Consular online booking appointment system” main page.

Please be aware that from 01 July 2012, we will no longer accept walk-in customers for legalisation, notarial services and certificates (birth, death and marriages). If you have problems accessing the system or need to make an appointment for nonnotarial consular issues or have a consular emergency, please call 2259 4355/7/8 or email us on consularenquirieskuwait@fco.gov.uk. If you require consular assistance out of office hours (working hours: 0730-l430 hrs), please contact the Embassy on 2259 4320. nnnnnnn

EMBASSY OF CANADA The Embassy of Canada is located at Villa 24, Al-Mutawakel St, Block 4 in Da’aiyah. Please visit our website at www.Kuwait.gc.ca. The Embassy of Canada is open from 07:30 to 15:30 Sunday through Thursday. The reception is closed from 12:30 to 01:00 pm for lunch break.

Consular Services for Canadian Citizens are provided from 09:00 until 12:00 on Sunday through Wednesday. The Canadian Embassy will be closed on Sunday and Monday 19 and 20 August 2012 on the occasion of Aid Al Fitr. The Embassy will resume its duties on Tuesday 21 August 2012. The Canadian Embassy in Abu Dhabi provides visa and immigration services to residents of Kuwait.

Individuals who are interested in visiting, working or immigrating to Canada are invited to visit the website of the Canadian Embassy to the UAE at www.UAE.gc.ca.

WHAT’S ON SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2012

Malabar Mahotsavam, a mega event

K

ozhikode District NRI Association held ‘Malabar Mahotsavam 2012’ for the NRI folk and denizens of Kozhikode. It was a rare and unforgettable event for many to witness their own home town and favored S M Street recreated in Indian Central School, Abbasiya on 2nd November 2012.

Malabar Mahotsavam 2012 was celebrated with great fanfare. Pomp and gaiety associated with the festival left a lasting impression on the minds of those audiences who were present to witness the event.

The mouthwatering food court put up on the occasion reminded the gastronomical skills of Kozhikode household.

There were different stalls catering to the needs and taste of everyone on the S M Street.

Malayalam film star Nishanth Sagar cut the ribbon in the presence of a multitude of KDNA members to enter the SM Street marking the official inauguration in the morning.

Sajeevan Kunnimmal welcomed the gathering. Comedy show artist Ajay Kalli and media person Sajeev K Peter spoke on the occasion.

Several competitions like Mehendi designing were added attractions of the fest. Asna Shabeer bagged the first price, Lubna the second prize, Fazna Abdul Samad the third prize and Fida Shihab bagged the consolation price.

Prasoon conjured up a magic session to the delight of the audience. Commemorating the heritage of the Malabar was an added attraction. Art exhibition was inaugurated by comedy show guest artist Ajay Kallai. The show presented by him on the occasion won applause of the audience.

The first, second and third prices for the competition of the best Biriyani was bagged by Ramani Surendran, Jasni Shameer and Zubaida respectively.

Cultural meet which formed an important part of the event was inaugurated by Indian Ambassador to Kuwait Satish C Mehta. Zubair MM presided over the function.

Indian Community School Secretary Vijayan Karayil, Association Advisory Board member Krishnan Kadalundi and Basheer Batha and Organizing Secretary Rasheed Payanthong delivered felicitation speeches. Association Vice presidents Kalathil Abdurahman, Asha Premraj and Azeez Thikkodi were present on the dais. Arun Kumar, Calicut Landmark Builders, was honored with a memento by the Association President MM Zubair. Nishanth Sagar released the souvenir by presenting a copy to Afzal Khan.

The prices for henna competition and cooking competition were distributed during the official function by Lulu Exchange Country Head KNS Das, Geely Car Brand Manager Rexy Williams, Gulf Bank Assistant Marketing Khalid Otaibi.

The most stunning occurrence of the Ghoshayatra was the “Gajaveeran”, the artificial elephant with mahout.

A deafening digital fireworks marked the end of Ghoshayatra. Outstanding performances of the children of the KDNA members and participation of lady members together with all other KDNA members made the program a memorable experience. Orchestra was led by Arts and Cultural Secretary Rafi Kalli and joint secretary Abdurahiman Naduvannu.

Mementos were presented to Times Joke Artist Ajal Kallai, Sushith Kumar and Sasidharan by Sharafuddin Kanneth and Junoob PP. Siddiq Valiyakath, Sageer Thrikkaripur, Raghunathan Nair, Kaipattor Thankachan, Sam Kutty George, Adv Razak M Payyoli, Chesil Ramapuram, Hamza Payyanur, NA

Muneer, Nixon George, Chacko George Kutty, Jacob Channapetta, Dr Amir Mohammed, Mohd Rafi, A M Hassan, Anil Keloth, Labba, Thomas Panicker, Sabu M Peter, Ismail Payyoli, Iqbal Kuttamangalum, Hareesh Thripunithura, Raju Sakariya,Shaji Raghuvaran,Babuji Batheri, Manoj Mathew Channapetta were among the dignitaries attended Malabar Mahotsavam 2012.

Ilyas Thottahil, K Ali Koya, Nasir Thikkodi, Mohammed Vazhayil, KV Nisar, Karunakaran Perambra, TM Praju, Suhesh Kumar, Balan Koomulli, Premraj Koroth, Ubaid Chakkitakandy, VKM Ashraf, Mohanraj Areekad, Sajeevan Kunnimal, A M Shamsuddin, Raveendran Mukkum, Shijith Kumar Chirakkal, and Azeez Palat were among the persons who controlled the mega event. The entire celebration was compared by Jaya Dhiraj.

HEALTH

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2012

Personalized cancer treatment in the offing NEW YORK: Michael Pellini fires up his computer and opens a report on a patient with a tumor of the salivary gland. The patient had surgery, but the cancer recurred. That’s when a biopsy was sent to Foundation Medicine, the company that Pellini runs, for a detailed DNA study. Foundation deciphered some 200 genes with a known link to cancer and found what he calls “actionable” mutations in three of them. That is, each genetic defect is the target of anticancer drugs undergoing testing-though not for salivary tumors. Should the patient take one of them? “Without the DNA, no one would have thought to try these drugs,” says Pellini.

Starting this spring, for about $5,000, any oncologist will be able to ship a sliver of tumor in a bar-coded package to Foundation’s lab. Foundation will extract the DNA, sequence scores of cancer genes, and prepare a report to steer doctors and patients toward drugs, most still in early testing, that are known to target the cellular defects caused by the DNA errors the analysis turns up. Pellini says that about 70 percent of cases studied to date have yielded information that a doctor could act on-whether by prescribing a particular drug, stopping treatment with another, or enrolling the patient in a clinical trial. The idea of personalized medicine tailored to an individual’s genes isn’t new. In fact, several of the key figures behind Foundation have been pursuing the idea for over a decade, with mixed success. “There is still a lot to prove,” agrees Pellini, who says that Foundation is working with several medical centers to expand the evidence that DNA information can broadly guide cancer treatment.

Foundation’s business model hinges on the convergence of three recent developments: a steep drop in the cost of decoding DNA, much new data about the genetics of cancer, and a growing effort by pharmaceutical companies to develop drugs that combat the specific DNA defects that prompt cells to become cancerous. Last year, two of the 10 cancer drugs approved by the US Food and Drug Administration came with a companion DNA test (previously, only one drug had required such a test). So, for instance, doctors who want to prescribe Zelboraf, Roche’s treatment for advanced skin cancer, first test the patient for the BRAFV 600E mutation, which is found in about half of all cases.

About a third of the 900 cancer drugs currently in clinical trials could eventually come to market with a DNA or other molecular test attached, according to drug benefits manager Medco. Foundation thinks it makes sense to look at all relevant genes at once-what it calls a “pan-cancer” test. By accurately decoding cancer genes, Foundation says, it uncovers not only the most commonly seen mutations but also rare ones that might give doctors additional clues. “You can see how it will get very expensive, if not impossible, to test for each individual marker separately,” Foundation Medicine’s COO, Kevin Krenitsky, says. A more complete study “switches on all the lights in the room.”

So far, most of Foundation’s business is coming from five drug companies seeking genetic explanations for why their cancer drugs work spectacularly in some patients but not at all in others. The industry has recognized that drugs targeted to subsets of patients cost less to develop, can get FDA approval faster, and can be sold for higher prices than traditional medications. “Our portfolio is full of targets where we’re developing tests based on the biology of disease,” says Nicholas Dracopoli, vice president for oncology biomarkers at Janssen R&D, which is among the companies that send samples to Foundation. “If a pathway isn’t activated, you get no clinical benefit by inhibiting it. We have to know which pathway is driving the dissemination of the disease.”

Cancer is the most important testing ground for the idea of targeted drugs. Worldwide spending on cancer drugs is expected to reach $80 billion this year-more than is spent on any other type of medicine. But “the average cancer drug only works about 25 percent of the time,” says Randy Scott, executive chairman of the molecular diagnostics company Genomic Health, which sells a test that examines 16 breastcancer genes. “That means as a society we’re spending $60 billion on drugs that don’t work.” Analyzing tumor DNA is also important because research over the past decade or so has demonstrated that different types of tumors can have genetic features in common, making them treatable with the same drugs.

NEW DELHI: A Delhi Municipal field worker fumigates in an area of New Delhi for preventing dengue. Dengue cases in the capital rose to 1,326 on Thursday, with 38 more people testing positive for the mosquito-borne disease, according to The Delhi Municipal Cooperation and news reports. — AP

Home blood pressure monitors show mixed results: Study Review of 37 clinical trials LONDON: Home blood pressure monitors may be useful to some older adults who have suffered a stroke, but little help to others, according to a UK study. Past studies have found that home monitoring may aid blood pressure control, with a 2010 review of 37 clinical trials finding that, overall, people who used monitors shaved a few extra points from their blood pressure. They were also more likely to cut down on medication. The new study, which appeared in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, focused on patients who’d recently had a stroke - a group that hasn’t really been studied when it comes to home blood pressure monitoring.

“Overall, home monitoring did not improve blood pressure control in patients with hypertension and a history of stroke,” wrote lead researcher Sally Kerry, a researcher at Queen Mary, University of London.

The exception, though, was patients whose blood pressure was poorly controlled at the study’s start, meaning it was above the standard high blood pressure cutoff of 140/90 mm Hg. In that case, patients given a home monitor cut an average of 11 points from their systolic blood pressure - the top number in the reading. That compared with just under five points among patients who were not given the devices.

Kerry’s team randomly assigned the patients to either stick with standard care only or get a home monitor, along with instructions on how to use it and periodic phone calls from a nurse to check on how they were doing.

Over the next year, the results were mixed. Among the patients who didn’t seem to benefit were those who’d been left disabled by their stroke, while non-disabled patients cut about four points.

“Some patients had difficulty carrying out monitoring because they did not have a carer who lived with them to help,” said Kerry.

Many people with high blood pressure already have home monitors, and these findings don’t mean that stroke survivors

can’t benefit, although a person left disabled by a stroke may be “not the best” candidate, said Hayden Bosworth, a professor of medicine at Duke University, who was not part of the study.

And for a monitor to benefit anyone, the numbers have to be put to good use, he added. That means a healthcare provider has to know what they are and make any needed adjustments to a patient’s medications. — Reuters

Indonesian city targets pot-bellied police TANGERANG, Indonesia: Overweight policemen in an Indonesian city have been ordered to join an exercise programme as many of them are currently too slow to catch fleeing criminals.

“The pot-bellied police run too slow,” Wahyu Widada, police chief of Tangerang, near the capital Jakarta, told AFP. Around 130 officers deemed excessively overweight out of the 1,473-strong force will undertake compulsory physical exercise three times a week for a total of four-and-a-half hours.

The exercise programme includes aerobics and running, he said.

“Once they reach their ideal body weight, they are free to walk out of the programme,” said Widada.

He also warned the officers would have to watch their diet: “Exercise means nothing if they continue to consume greasy food at home.” — AFP

CLASSIFIEDS

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2012

Hospitals Sabah Hospital

24812000

Amiri Hospital

22450005

Maternity Hospital

24843100

Mubarak Al-Kabir Hospital

25312700

Chest Hospital

24849400

Farwaniya Hospital

24892010

Adan Hospital

23940620

Ibn Sina Hospital

24840300

Al-Razi Hospital

24846000

Physiotherapy Hospital

24874330/9

Clinics Rabiya

24732263

Rawdha

22517733

Adailiya

22517144

Khaldiya

24848075

Khaifan

24849807

Shamiya

24848913

Shuwaikh

24814507

Abdullah Salim

22549134

Al-Nuzha

22526804

Industrial Shuwaikh

24814764

Al-Qadisiya

22515088

Dasmah

22532265

Bneid Al-Ghar

22531908

Al-Shaab

22518752

Al-Kibla

22459381

Ayoun Al-Kibla

22451082

Mirqab

22456536

Sharq

22465401

Salmiya

25746401

Jabriya

25316254

Maidan Hawally

25623444

Bayan

25388462

FOR SALE Daihatsu Sirion 2012, 20 km, automatic, 5 door, KD 2100.

Contact: 60976100.

(C 4202) 6-11-2012 Lancer 2009 outlander 2009.

Ph: 99481300. Lancer Ex GLS 2011 model, silver color, km 21,000 only, original paint, under warranty, KD 3,900. Ph: 66052331.

(C 4197) Toyota Corolla 2008, dark grey color (CC 1600). KD 2300. Tel: 66729295.

(C 4200) Offer for photo studios, Fuji Frontier 340 Machine for sale in a very reasonable price. For inquiries please call 55127477. (C 4198) 5-11-2012 SITUATION WANTED Toyota Land Cruiser, white color, 2009 model, V8, full option, excellent condition, 86,000 km only. Call 66026259, 66158602.

(C4199) 4-11-2012 Mitsubishi Galant, 2006 model, silver color, beige interior, 1,25,000 km, serviced by dealership, owned by American lady, price KD 1,500, o.n.o. 99405067.

Australian now in Kuwait looking for a traveling partner to Canada and USA male or female, share cost. Email: gulfinportexport@hotmail.com (C 4203) 6-11-2012 Western educated “Project Manager� with 2 EngineeringDegrees (Civil/Elec.), 4-Master Degrees (Project Mgmt/ Engineering/ Education & Training/ MBA), plus 17-years

experience in Middle East/ Australia, seeking Executive Position. Contact: 65695468 email: rav@engineer.com (C 4195) 4-11-2012

LOST Mohammed Aslam, Indian Passport No 2021183, issued in Kuwait on May, 30, 2010 is lost. If anyone finds please contact: 97427077, 97915756 6-11-2012

SITUATION VACANT Required Indian or Sri Lankan driver for a Kuwaiti family, light work and good salary. Contact: 99709076.

(C 4204) Required camp keeper, Indian or Sri Lankan, with good salary. Contact: 99709076. (C 4205) Required English speaking nanny/ maid. Please call 99824597. (C 4201) 6-11-2012

information SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2012

DIAL 161 FOR AIRPORT INFORMATION In case you are not travelling, your proper cancellation of bookings will help other passengers to use seats Airlines JAI KLM THY JZR QTR ETH GFA UAE ETD OMA FDB MSR QTR DHX THY JZR JZR KAC JZR BAW KAC KAC FDB KAC KAC KAC UAE KAC GFA KAC ABY QTR FDB ETD GFA BAB FDB JZR MSC UAE IRM MSR GFA FDB KNE KAC SVA QTR KAC JZR IZG QTR IRC JZR KAC UAE SYR JZR ETD RJA KAC GFA SVA KAC QTR ABY UAL KAC KNE JZR BAB

Arrival Flights on Saturday 10/11/2012 Flt Route 574 MUMBAI 413 AMSTERDAM 772 ISTANBUL 539 CAIRO 148 DOHA 620 ADDIS ABABA 211 BAHRAIN 853 DUBAI 305 ABU DHABI 643 MUSCAT 67 DUBAI 612 CAIRO 138 DOHA 170 BAHRAIN 770 ISTANBUL 503 LUXOR 555 ALEXANDRIA 416 JAKARTA 529 ASSIUT 157 LONDON 412 MANILA 206 ISLAMABAD 53 DUBAI 382 DELHI 302 MUMBAI 352 COCHIN 855 DUBAI 344 CHENNAI 223 BAHRAIN 284 DHAKA 121 SHARJAH 132 DOHA 55 DUBAI 301 ABU DHABI 213 BAHRAIN 436 BAHRAIN 69 DUBAI 165 DUBAI 401 ALEXANDRIA 871 DUBAI 1190 MASHAD 610 CAIRO 219 BAHRAIN 57 DUBAI 472 JEDDAH 672 DUBAI 500 JEDDAH 140 DOHA 788 JEDDAH 257 BEIRUT 4161 MASHAD 134 DOHA 6692 MASHAD 535 CAIRO 118 NEW YORK 857 DUBAI 341 DAMASCUS 357 MASHAD 303 ABU DHABI 640 AMMAN 538 SOHAG 215 BAHRAIN 510 RIYADH 502 BEIRUT 144 DOHA 127 SHARJAH 982 WASHINGTON DC DULLES 542 CAIRO 470 JEDDAH 177 DUBAI 438 BAHRAIN

Time 0:30 0:30 0:35 0:50 1:00 1:45 1:50 2:35 2:45 2:50 3:05 3:10 3:45 5:15 5:30 5:55 6:00 6:25 6:35 6:40 6:45 7:40 7:45 7:45 7:55 8:05 8:40 8:40 8:45 8:45 9:05 9:10 9:15 9:20 9:55 10:05 10:45 11:20 12:00 12:50 12:50 13:05 13:35 13:50 14:10 14:15 14:30 14:35 14:55 15:05 15:20 15:30 15:50 16:25 16:35 16:40 16:40 16:45 16:50 16:55 17:10 17:15 17:20 17:40 17:50 17:55 17:55 18:05 18:10 18:15 18:40

FDB MSC KAC KAC KAC KAC IRA KAC OMA KAC FDB JAI AXB MSR JZR ABY KNE QTR ALK MEA QTR GFA ETD UAE JZR JAI FDB KLM KAC KAC AIC JZR GFA JZR UAL DHX BBC DLH

63 405 176 618 104 674 607 774 647 562 61 572 389 618 189 129 462 146 229 402 136 221 307 859 135 576 59 415 614 786 975 239 217 185 981 370 43 636

DUBAI SOHAG GENEVA DOHA LONDON DUBAI MASHAD RIYADH MUSCAT AMMAN DUBAI MUMBAI MANGALORE ALEXANDRIA DUBAI SHARJAH MEDINAH DOHA COLOMBO BEIRUT DOHA BAHRAIN ABU DHABI DUBAI BAHRAIN COCHIN DUBAI AMSTERDAM BAHRAIN JEDDAH CHENNAI AMMAN BAHRAIN DUBAI BAHRAIN BAHRAIN DHAKA FRANKFURT

Airlines AIC UAL DLH JAI KLM ETH THY FDB UAE OMA ETD MSR QTR QTR JZR GFA THY FDB BAW JZR KAC JZR KAC KAC GFA KAC ABY UAE FDB ETD QTR GFA

Departure Flights on Saturday 10/11/2012 Flt Route 976 GOA 981 WASHINGTON DC DULLES 637 FRANKFURT 573 MUMBAI 413 AMSTERDAM 621 ADDIS ABABA 773 ISTANBUL 68 DUBAI 854 DUBAI 644 MUSCAT 306 ABU DHABI 613 CAIRO 139 DOHA 149 DOHA 164 DUBAI 212 BAHRAIN 771 ISTANBUL 54 DUBAI 156 LONDON 256 BEIRUT 537 SOHAG 534 CAIRO 101 LONDON 787 JEDDAH 224 BAHRAIN 671 DUBAI 122 SHARJAH 856 DUBAI 56 DUBAI 302 ABU DHABI 133 DOHA 214 BAHRAIN

18:45 19:00 19:15 19:20 19:35 19:35 19:50 19:50 19:55 19:55 20:00 20:10 20:15 20:25 20:30 20:35 20:35 20:45 20:55 21:20 21:25 21:30 21:35 21:40 21:50 21:55 22:00 22:05 22:10 22:25 22:30 22:45 22:50 23:05 23:25 23:40 23:45 23:55

Time 0:05 1:10 1:20 1:30 1:45 2:45 2:55 3:45 3:50 3:55 4:00 4:10 4:50 6:05 6:55 7:00 7:35 8:25 8:45 9:05 9:05 9:15 9:20 9:25 9:30 9:40 9:45 9:55 10:00 10:05 10:10 10:40

JZR BAB FDB KAC KAC KAC MSC JZR MSR UAE IRM GFA FDB KAC KAC KNE KAC SVA JZR QTR IZG KAC IRC KAC JZR ETD SYR JZR QTR UAE RJA GFA JZR SVA ABY JZR QTR JZR KAC UAL KNE FDB BAB MSC KAC FDB IRA OMA KAC JAI ABY KNE MSR KAC KAC DHX ALK MEA ETD QTR GFA KAC KAC FDB JZR UAE JAI KAC KLM QTR GFA KAC

356 437 70 541 501 165 406 176 611 872 1191 220 58 561 673 473 617 505 188 141 4162 773 6693 785 238 304 342 538 135 858 641 216 184 511 128 266 145 134 613 982 461 64 439 402 283 62 604 648 331 571 120 471 607 351 543 171 230 403 308 137 222 301 381 60 554 860 575 205 415 147 218 411

MASHHAD BAHRAIN DUBAI CAIRO BEIRUT ROME SOHAG DUBAI CAIRO DUBAI MASHHAD BAHRAIN DUBAI AMMAN DUBAI JEDDAH DOHA JEDDAH DUBAI DOHA MASHHAD RIYADH MASHHAD JEDDAH AMMAN ABU DHABI DAMASCUS CAIRO DOHA DUBAI AMMAN BAHRAIN DUBAI RIYADH SHARJAH BEIRUT DOHA BAHRAIN BAHRAIN BAHRAIN MADINAH DUBAI BAHRAIN ALEXANDRIA DHAKA DUBAI ISFAHAN MUSCAT TRIVANDRUM MUMBAI SHARJAH JEDDAH LUXOR KOCHI CAIRO BAHRAIN COLOMBO BEIRUT ABU DHABI DOHA BAHRAIN MUMBAI DELHI DUBAI ALEXANDRIA DUBAI KOCHI ISLAMABAD DAMMAM DOHA BAHRAIN BANGKOK

Directorate General of Civil Aviation Home Page (www.kuwait-airport.com.kw)

10:45 10:50 11:25 11:30 11:45 11:50 13:00 13:50 14:05 14:15 14:15 14:20 14:30 14:30 15:05 15:10 15:45 16:00 16:05 16:15 16:20 16:25 16:50 16:55 17:15 17:35 17:40 17:40 17:45 17:50 17:55 18:15 18:30 18:35 18:40 18:45 18:50 19:05 19:10 19:10 19:10 19:25 19:30 20:00 20:30 20:40 20:50 20:55 20:55 21:10 21:15 21:25 21:25 21:30 21:40 21:50 21:55 22:20 22:20 22:25 22:30 22:35 22:40 22:40 22:45 22:50 22:55 23:00 23:05 23:10 23:50 23:55

C R O S S W O R D

4

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2012

Yesterday始s Solution

ACROSS 1. A detailed description of design criteria for a piece of work.

5. A monarchy in northwestern Europe occupying most of the British Isles.

12. 10 hao equal 1 dong.

15. (British) A recreational facility including a swimming pool for water sports.

16. A tricycle (usually propelled by pedalling).

17. The 7th letter of the Greek alphabet.

18. An organization of countries formed in 1961 to agree on a common policy for the sale of petroleum.

19. A city in the Saxony region of Germany on the Saale River.

20. British poet (born in the United States) who won the Nobel prize for literature (1888-1965).

22. (law) The seat for judges in a courtroom.

24. Israeli statesman (born in Russia) (1898-1978).

25. Look at with amorous intentions.

26. A resource.

28. An intensely radioactive metallic element that occurs in minute amounts in uranium ores.

31. An alloy of mercury with another metal (usually silver) used by dentists to fill cavities in teeth.

35. Enthusiastic approval.

36. Artists or writers whose ideas are ahead of their time.

37. A defensive missile designed to shoot down incoming intercontinental ballistic missiles.

40. French operatic composer (1799-1862).

43. Liquid excretory product.

45. (`cease' is a noun only in the phrase `without cease') End v 1.

47. (used as a combining form) Recent or new.

48. French naturalist who proposed that evolution resulted from the inheritance of acquired characteristics (1744-1829).

49. United States tennis player (born in Czechoslovakia) who won several singles championships.

51. A soft white precious univalent metallic element having the highest electrical and thermal conductivity of any metal.

52. Someone who works (or provides workers) during a strike.

54. Large sweet juicy hybrid between tangerine and grapefruit having a thick wrinkled skin.

55. (Akkadian) God of wisdom.

56. A member of the Siouan people inhabiting the valleys of the Platte and Missouri rivers in Nebraska.

59. A condition (mostly in boys) characterized by behavioral and learning disorders.

67. A curved oriental saber.

69. Seed again or anew.

70. A workplace for the conduct of scientific research.

71. Near or relating to the patella or kneecap.

74. A master's degree in business.

75. Old World vine with lobed evergreen leaves and black berrylike fruits.

76. Defeat (oneself) by going too far.

77. An adult male person (as opposed to a woman).

78. (computer science) The smallest discrete component of an image or picture on a CRT screen (usually a colored dot).

79. A star in Leo approximately 43 light years from Earth.

80. A loose sleeveless outer garment made from aba cloth.

DOWN 1. A coarse obnoxious person.

2. Type genus of the Pipidae.

3. Any place of complete bliss and delight and peace.

4. Of or relating to or near the coccyx.

5. Enlarged prostate.

6. A large quantity of written matter.

7. Person who does no work.

8. Deciduous trees with smooth usually silver-gray bark of North America and Europe and Asia.

9. Type genus of the Aceraceae.

10. A state in midwestern United States.

11. The compass point that is one point east (clockwise) of due north.

12. Become more extreme.

13. Eaten as mush or as a thin gruel.

14. Of or related to or derived from oats.

21. Relating to or applicable to or concerned with the administration of a

city or town or district rather than a larger area.

23. Advanced in complexity or elaboration.

27. An official prosecutor for a judicial district.

29. Small dry indehiscent fruit with the seed distinct from the fruit wall.

30. A flat wing-shaped process or winglike part of an organism.

32. A percussion instrument consisting of a pair of hollow pieces of wood or bone (usually held between the thumb and fingers) that are made to click together (as by Spanish dancers) in rhythm with the dance.

33. (Jungian psychology) The inner self (not the external persona) that is in touch with the unconscious.

34. (British) A waterproof raincoat made of rubberized fabric.

38. A light strong brittle gray toxic bivalent metallic element.

39. Any unwholesome or desperate condition.

41. Meat from a calf.

42. United States baseball player (born 1925).

44. Small tree of dry open parts of southern Africa having erect angled branches suggesting candelabra.

46. Cause to go somewhere.

50. United States screenwriter and filmmaker (born in 1944).

53. United States architect who with his partner Thomas Hastings designed many important public buildings (1858-1911).

57. A three-legged rack used for support.

58. A feast day and the seven days following it.

60. A member of the Himalayan people living in Nepal and Tibet who are famous for their skill as mountaineers.

61. A woman who tells fortunes.

62. Having been taken into the mouth for consumption.

63. A village of huts for native Africans in southern Africa.

64. A subsidiary proposition that is assumed to be true in order to prove another proposition.

65. Cubes of meat marinated and cooked on a skewer usually with vegetables.

66. A city in southern Turkey on the Seyhan River.

68. An underground enclosure with access from the surface of the ground or from the sea v 1.

72. A three-year law degree.

73. A zodiacal constellation in northern hemisphere between Cancer and Virgo.

Yesterday始s Solution

SPORTS SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2012

Wales, Argentina keen to build on global gains CARDIFF: Two nations threatening to shake-up the rugby world order face each other when Wales welcome Argentina to Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium today. The red dragons of Wales and Los Pumas of South America may only be ranked sixth and eighth, respectively, in the International Rugby Board standings but are arguably the most improved Test teams of recent years. Hosts Wales are the reigning European champions, having claimed a third clean sweep of the Six Nations in eight years in March, on the back of reaching the semi-finals of the World Cup in New Zealand.

Meanwhile Argentina come into the match fresh from a promising debut in the Rugby Championship that saw them prove stubborn opponents to the might of world champions New Zealand, Australia and South Africa, with the Pumas managing a draw against the Springboks. Today’s con-

test will indicate how much either side has learned from recently facing the top three teams in the world and go a long way to defining their final campaign of the year.

Wales captain Sam Warburton is braced for a tough month of rugby with Samoa, the All Blacks and Wallabies following Argentina to Cardiff in successive weeks.

“The great thing about the autumn is that you’re playing the best teams in the world back-to-back at the Millennium Stadium,” said Warburton.

“Even in the Six Nations we get the odd week off between games so physically and mentally it’s a tough and demanding campaign because with games one after the other,” the flanker added. “Argentina’s involvement in the Rugby Championship will have done them so much good and their standard of rugby will have gone through the roof from playing in that intensity. “It’s a massive challenge but

hopefully we can get off to a winning start because momentum is always the key thing in these campaigns, as it was in the Six Nations and World Cup. “We need to click from the off as a good win could set up a good campaign, and we’ve given ourselves every possible chance by having a good build-up.”

Wales, who twice lost narrowly away to Australia in June, prepared for this series of games with their now customary camp at a former Olympic facility in Poland where players use chryotherapy chambers, in which they are exposed to temperatures as low as -140 degrees, to aid recovery. “It’s a pretty brutal week that none of the players enjoy but it’s worth it because we have all seen the results of that hard from previous trips before the World Cup and Six Nations,” said Warburton. Wales include 11 of their Grand Slam winning team but hand a debut to 26-year-old prop Aaron

Jarvis as well as only a second Test start for flanker Josh Turnbull following injuries to front-row Adam Jones and loose forwards Dan Lydiate and Ryan Jones.

Argentina start with 11 players who appeared in the Rugby Championship team but have recalled two vastly experienced former fly-halves in Felipe Contepomi and Juan Martin Hernandez to their back division. “To be playing against the best three teams in the world was great competition for us,” said Argentina captain Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe. “We have tried to take advantage of that and hopefully use all the experience we have gained to keep improving. “But we know it is going to be a tough challenge at the Millennium Stadium which is a great place to play rugby. “Wales are full of great players who have been together for a long time and we saw how close they came to Australia in June.”— AFP

New-look Springboks and Ireland set for fiery clash

PARIS: Players of Australia’s rugby team are seen during a training session at the Stade de France, in Paris yesterday.

The Wallabies will play against the French team today. — AP

Tonga warm-up for Italy; All Blacks, Aussies loom MILAN: Italy coach Jacques Brunel insists his players’ minds are not on New Zealand and Australia as they begin their autumn test series against Pacific Islanders Tonga today. The Azzurri host the All Blacks at Rome’s Olympic stadium on November 17 before hosting Australia in Florence on November 24. But Brunel said Thursday the priority is for Italy to maintain the good form they showed in a recent tour of north America when they meet Tonga in Brescia today. “We’ve been training with the best possible squad but we’re not thinking about the two games we have coming up later”against New Zealand and Australia, Brunel said.

“We’ve won three of our last four games and our goal is to keep the momentum going. The only game I’m thinking about is Tonga, we’re not thinking about what comes later.”This year’s autumn series has been given an added dimension as it will decide the seedings for next month’s draw for the 20125 World Cup in England. And while that will be an incentive for both teams, Italy will start today’s match, only the teams’ fourth meeting, as firm favorites.

Tonga’s last victory over Italy was a 28-

25 win in Leicester during the 1999 World Cup. The Azzurri have since made amends with a 36-10 win in the 2003 World Cup and a 48-0 rout in Prato, Italy in 2005. After today’s game Tonga head coach Mana Otai will lead his side against the United States, Scotland and English club Newcastle Falcons. Although they have been in Brescia training this week, Mana had little time in which to trim his Sea Eagles squad during a three-day training camp in Gruissan, France. “We tried to concentrate on giving the players the tools, patterns and plays they will need during the tour without overloading them during the two-and-a-half days we had to work with,”said Mana.

Despite his claims, meanwhile, Brunel appears to have one eye on the All Blacks and Wallabies tests having left some established players on the bench. While Italy wing Mirco Bergamasco is sidelined with injury, prop Martin Castrogiovanni will start from the bench as Lorenzo Cittadini is handed a rare start in his hometown thanks to his early season form. “Both are international level props but Cittadini has played more at this early stage of the season than Castrogiovanni

and in his hometown I think Lorenzo deserves the chance to start the game,”said Brunel. “Cittadini has already played in the position at the Six Nations when Castrogiovanni was injured and in recent weeks Castro has not played much with the (Leicester) Tigers.”Veteran number eight Sergio Parisse will start and full back Andrea Masi makes his return having missed the summer tour of north America.

“Andrea is in great physical condition, his confidence is flying and I think he will make a good contribution,”said Brunel.

South African-born Tobias Botes comes in at scrum half after a mediocre Six Nations tournament which he exited with an elbow injury against Scotland. Making his debut today is Tommaso Iannone, who forced wing Giovambattista Venditti on to the bench thanks to some strong performances for Treviso and the absence of Bergamasco. “The choice was between Iannone and Venditti, given the unavailability of Mirco Bergamasco,”added Brunel. “But he’s not such a surprise inclusion. He has been strong for Treviso and also impressive in training. “Either we wait, or we get him in there quickly, and we chose the latter option.” — AFP

DUBLIN: Both sides may be short of some familiar figures, but Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer and fly-half Pat Lambie expect fireworks when South Africa face Ireland at Dublin’s Lansdowne Road today. The first Test of the Springboks’ northern hemisphere tour is against a side that have beaten them three times out of the last four occasions they’ve met in Dublin, but the visitors are slight favorites this weekend.

To understand why, one need look no further than the preamble to this contest, which has been more focused on those not in the two starting lineups than those who are taking part.

Ireland, thrashed 60-0 last time out by world champions New Zealand in Hamilton in June are missing through injury six of the first names usually written on coach Declan Kidney’s team sheet in Brian O’Driscoll, Paul O’Connell, Rob Kearney, Stephen Ferris, Sean O’Brien and Rory Best.Meyer, for his part, is also without several stars in Bismarck du Plessis, Heinrich Brussow, Juan Smith, Schalk Burger, Pierre Spies, Jacques Potgieter, Frans Steyn and Bryan Habana.

However, Meyer has an element of consistency, with just three changes from the side that faced New Zealand in the last game of the Rugby Championship. Pat Lambie starts in place of the experienced Morne Steyn at outside-half, a position that has become a major issue for the Boks, and one that’s cost them dearly in recent Tests. With just 15 caps, and not many of them at No 10, Lambie may appear a relatively risky call, but Meyer is hoping he can transfer his Currie Cup form to the international stage. “I want to see what he can do, I’m excited to see what he can bring to the team,” Meyer said.

“He played very well in the last few weeks of the Currie Cup and hopefully he can bring that momentum with him today.

“He has really impressed me recently and his goal-kicking has been superb in difficult conditions, he is in the zone, which is what ultimately got him the start.” Lambie made his Test debut in South Africa’s 23-21 win in Dublin two years ago and hopes to cement his place at outside-half with another memorable visit. “I’m very excited, I have very special memories of playing in Dublin, and hopefully I can have more good memories,” he said. “Both sides are coming off defeats by New Zealand and looking to make things right.

They’ll probably both be disappointed with their last performance so I think you can expect fireworks from Ireland and South Africa.” JP Pietersen comes in for the injured Bryan Habana, while Juandre Kruger takes over at lock for Andries Bekker in the last of the changes from the team that lost 32-16 last time out to the All Blacks. Meyer forecast a tough game for his team despite Ireland’s weakened hand. “I expect an unbelievable challenge from them,” he said. “They are a wellbalanced side and, even though they are missing a number of their more experienced players, their youngsters are good players. “I watched the games against New Zealand and they were, in a sense, unlucky in second Test. You don’t go there and perform like that (Ireland only lost the first Test 22-19) if you’re a bad team.” Jamie Heaslip captains Ireland for the first time, while South Africa-born hooker Richardt Strauss will make his Test debut against a Springbok side where the opposing hooker is his cousin, Adriaan Strauss. —AFP

SPORTS SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2012

Gainey eyes another win to end PGA Tour season FLORIDA: Three weeks after clinching his maiden PGA Tour victory, Tommy Gainey put himself in position for a repeat win as he charged into contention for the Children’s Miracle Network Classic at Lake Buena Vista, Florida on Thursday. The 37-year-old American with an unconventional swing fired a seven-under-par 65 on the Palm course, one of two layouts hosting the final PGA Tour event of the season, to end the opening round a stroke off the lead. Gainey birdied two of his last three holes to finish level with Colombian Camilo Villegas, one shot behind South Korean Charlie Wi who also started out on the Palm layout. Briton Russell Knox, in his rookie season on the PGA Tour, was a further stroke back on 66, along with Americans Brian Harman and Scott Stallings.

Gainey, who last month won the McGladrey Classic in sensational fashion after closing with a storming 10-underpar 60, was delighted with his start on a blustery day at Lake Buena Vista. “It’s playing kind of tough out there,” he told reporters after recording six birdies, an eagle at the par-five 14th and a lone bogey in the opening round. “The wind’s blowing 10 to 15 (mph) steady, gusting up to 20 at different times, and when you catch that gust on the wrong side, you can make some bogeys pretty fast. “I’ve got off to a great start, so I gotta focus on maybe trying to win another tournament this week. It’s all about winning again for me, because my goal has not been achieved yet.”

CLEAR-CUT GOAL Gainey’s goal is clear-cut. He would dearly love to book a place in next

year’s Masters at Augusta National by ending the season in the top 30 in the PGA Tour’s money list. However, victory this week would not be quite enough as the player nicknamed “Two Gloves” could finish no higher than 32nd with total earnings of $2,370,703. “When I’m playing at Augusta, that means I’m also playing in the other majors, so that’s my goal,” said the American with the unusual baseball-style swing who occupied 56th spot in the money list coming into this week.

“But I cannot get in the top 30 this week. Not with a win. So my goal is just to win anyway. I’m just trying to play my game and just go from there.”

While Gainey is bidding for a second consecutive win on the PGA Tour, Wi is seeking his first after having to settle for a runner-up spot five times since he began playing on the US circuit full-

Chapchai and Dyson lead at rain-soaked Singapore Open SINGAPORE: Rain severely disrupted play at the Singapore Open again yesterday, with golfers being shuttled on and off the course and half the field unable to even start the second round. Thailand’s Chapchai Nirat and England’s Simon Dyson shared a one-stroke lead at 6under par midway through the second round before play was halted for the second consecutive day because of thunderstorms. Chapchai has nine holes left to play and Dyson has five. Three golfers are in a tie for third at 5 under - Italians Matteo Manassero and Francesco Molinari and Denmark’s Thomas Bjorn.

After storms cut play short on Thursday, organizers were forced to complete the first round yesterday morning.

Chapchai was among those on the course yesterday and finished off a first round of 6-under 65 to surge into the lead. Dyson caught him, however, with four birdies at the start of the second.

Rory McIlroy had a long day on the course, too. He played 10 holes in the morning to finish up his first round at 1under 70, then immediately went back out for the second. Struggling with what he said was a cold or a sinus infection, he didn’t look sharp on the back nine, either.

He bogeyed the 12th and then hit a double bogey on the par-4 13th before getting back to par with three birdies, with six holes left to play.

At least he made it on the course. Phil Mickelson, three-time champion Adam Scott and Bjorn, who shot a 5-under 66 in the first round, didn’t play at all yesterday.

Tournament director Jose Maria Zamora said organizers still hoped to complete 72 holes before the end of the weekend. If there are more rain delays, however, he said the tournament could be reduced to 54 holes or the fourth round could be held on Monday. The tournament is frequently hampered by rain. Last year, only three rounds were played and the playoff to decide the winner still had to be held on the Monday. Chapchai, nicknamed “King Kong” because of his long drives off

SINGAPORE: Chapchai Nirat of Thailand hits a shot during day two of the Barclays Singapore Open golf tournament at the Sentosa Golf Club in Singapore. — AFP the tee, didn’t seem to be too fazed by the constant delays. He learned to be more patient, he said, when his parents sent him to a monastery to help him control his temper early in his career. He even briefly became a monk.

“I used to be very hot-tempered and I got frustrated easily, especially at such a young age,” he said. “My temper is better now but I still try to go back to the monastery once in a while.” The Thai golfer has captured only one European Tour title, in Sanya, China, in 2007. He’s played sparingly on the tour this season, appearing in just three events. He has the potential to put up low scores, though. At the SAIL Open in India in 2009, he reached 32 under to capture the title, which was believed to be the lowest 72-hole score to par on any tour in the world.

McIlroy can wrap up the European Tour money title with a strong showing in Singapore. He’s already claimed the US PGA Tour money list and is trying to emulate Luke Donald’s 2011 feat of winning both money titles in the same year. After struggling early in his second round,

McIlroy started to turn things around by holing a 3-foot birdie putt on the par-5 18th as a fine drizzle turned into a steady rain, and then perfectly placing his approach shot on the next hole, the par-4 first, setting himself up for another easy birdie putt. Play was halted moments later but McIlroy didn’t lose his momentum.

After returning to the course with girlfriend Caroline Wozniacki sitting on his lap in the cart, he hit his first shot to within two feet of the hole on No 3 and birdied again.

Fifteen minutes later, however, the players were off the course again as the skies darkened with another storm approaching. “All these stoppages are very frustrating, but then there is not much you can do about it as this is the weather they get here in Singapore at this time of year,” McIlroy said. Chris Jordan, senior vice president of tournament promoter World Sport Group, has said that with the tournament to get a new sponsor next year after Barclays’ decision not to renew its deal, a move to a less rainy time of year was possible. — AP

time in 2005. “The Palm is a course where you need to score and all the par-fives are reachable, so I felt like I took advantage of them really well,” the 40-year-old Korean said.

“What really got me going was No 7 when I made that eagle putt from about 15 feet and I felt like I had something special going today. “I know the scores are low out there, and I’m very pleased with eight under today. I’m hoping this will be a special week.”

The top 125 in the money list secure full status for 2013 so this week is a decisive one for Americans Kevin Chappell (123rd), Billy Mayfair (125th), Gary Christian (127th) and Bill Lunde (129th), as well as Australian Rod Pampling (124th). Among those, Chappell made the best start with a 67 while Pampling opened with a 70 and Christian with a 71. — Reuters

Wie shares LPGA lead with Kung, Stanford GUADALAJARA: Michelle Wie had six birdies in a six-under 66 on Thursday to seize a share of the first round lead in the Lorena Ochoa Invitational alongside Candie Kung and Angela Stanford. Wie, whose 2009 triumph here was the first of her two LPGA tour victories to date, opened with back-toback birdies at Guadalajara Country Club, and strung together four successive birdies from the 10th through the 13th. It was a great start for a player who has struggled to just two top-20 finishes this season and needed a sponsor invitation to get into the 36-player field after failing to qualify. “It’s been a really difficult year,” said Wie, whose round was just her eighth in the 60s this year. “It’s been the hardest year I’ve had so far.”

The American said she knows what she needs to do to keep it going at Guadalajara. “You have to be on the right position on the fairway, on the right position on the green, get above the hole a couple times and getting in your putts,” she said.

“So for the next couple of days, I just need to put them in the right position, keep doing that-just position golf.” Taiwan’s Kung and American player Stanford both had seven birdies and one bogey in their six-under efforts.

Kung, playing for a fifth straight week, admitted she wasn’t expecting a low round on a course where she hasn’t done particularly well in the past. “I did not expect this at all,” she said. “This is my fifth year and I haven’t done well at all the last four, so I just kind of go out there and play my way around and I happened to have seven birdies.” World No 2 Stacy Lewis, who won her fourth title of the season last week in Japan, was one shot off the pace on 67, tied with Evian Masters winner Inbee Park and So Yeon Ryu of South Korea, France’s Karine Icher and Cristie Kerr.

Lewis has a 58-point lead over Park with two events left in the LPGA Player of the Year points race. She is bidding to wrap up the honor this week and become the first US golfer to win the award since Beth Daniel in 1994. Lewis and Park were paired together, a move Lewis welcomed. “It was a fun day to kind of see how our games stack up,” Lewis said. “Obviously by the scores, our games are pretty close.” Tournament host Lorena Ochoa, the Mexican superstar who won 27 LPGA Tour titles before retiring in 2010, opened with a 71. This time last year, 28-year-old Ochoa was expecting the birth of her son Pedro, who was born in December. — AFP

SPORTS SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2012

NFL’s Young: No game in China anytime soon HONG KONG: The NFL is enjoying rapid growth in China but it will not stage a game there until the fan base reaches a tipping point to avoid damaging its “brand equity”, the head of the league’s Chinese operation said. Rated

by Forbes as the world’s richest professional sports league, with over $9 billion in annual revenues, the NFL overshadows rivals such as the NBA and Major League Baseball on home soil, but it is playing catch-up in China.

NFL China Managing Director Richard Young conceded the league had dropped the ball by getting there late, but he is comfortable with the growth in popularity of American football across China’s major cities. “We’re not going down the same old route

the way some people still do, they look at 1.38 billion people and say, ‘If we could just get 5 percent’,” Young told Reuters by telephone on Thursday.

“When people follow that strategy it’s all gone. “A lot of people try to make very homogenous maxims about China all the time, but we don’t believe there’s a cultural reason as to why American football is more popular in the United States than it is overseas.”

Young said the NFL had not been proactive enough when it first looked at developing the game overseas and particularly in China, though it had since ramped up its efforts significantly. “What would we do differently?

Start earlier, that’s the number one

thing.” While Major League Baseball, the NBA, as well as European soccer teams, have staged games in China, Young said there were no plans for the NFL to follow suit anytime soon. The NFL had to cancel an exhibition game between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks in 2007 as China simply was not ready for the sport and the league’s international expansion was instead routed through London.

The logistical difficulties in bringing the NFL roadshow to China and delivering a product that would do the league justice was also something that had been underestimated. “Until our fan base is at a level where it can truly support itself, and there is additional demand for more, I’m not supportive

Luck runs for 2 TDS, Colts maul Jaguars JACKSONVILLE: Inspiration one week, domination the next.

The Indianapolis Colts became the latest to hammer the Jacksonville Jaguars at home, winning 27-10 on Thursday night behind rookie quarterback Andrew Luck’s two rushing touchdowns. Darius Butler returned an interception for a score as the Colts (6-3) won their fourth consecutive game and snapped a three-game losing streak in the series. The Jaguars (1-8) have lost six straight, their worst start in franchise history.

The Colts had cause for concern following an emotional victory four days earlier, one in which cancer-stricken coach Chuck Pagano delivered a passionate, postgame speech in the locker room. Interim coach Bruce Arians was worried the team might crash from the emotional high. Not even close.

Indianapolis scored on three consecutive possessions in the first half, opening up a 17-0 lead that started emptying the stands at EverBank Field. “This win was huge,” Luck said. “We wanted to keep our winning streak going.

Jacksonville got us earlier this year. We didn’t want to go 02 against a team. This is a good step in the right direction, but no one looks back at the fact that you were 6-3 in the middle of the season. It’s what we do at the end of the season.”

Coming off an NFL rookie record 433 yards passing against Miami, Luck wasn’t quite as sharp in his prime-time debut. He didn’t need to be, either. Luck completed 18 of 26 passes for 227 yards, with an interception and a fumble. But he was unstoppable near the end zone, juking defenders with two pump fakes and scrambling for a 5-yard score on one drive and then plunging across the goal line on fourth down on the next possession.

That was plenty against the Jaguars, who have the league’s worst offense and played a third game without star running back Maurice Jones-Drew. Jacksonville has lost every game since a come-from-behind victory at Indianapolis. Blaine Gabbert hit Cecil Shorts III for an 80-yard touchdown in the final minute, stunning the Colts. There was no drama in the rematch. The Colts essentially sealed the victory when Butler stepped in front of Gabbert’s pass in the flat and went untouched for an 11-yard score early in the third quarter. “It was an anticipated thing,” Butler said. “It was something I had seen those guys do on film, so I was ready for it and jumped in front of him. I knew they wanted to get the ball out quick. I was ready for it and went for it. A great feeling.”

Indianapolis became just the third road team to win on Thursday night this season, and just the fifth in the last two seasons. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said before the game that the league is analyzing whether home teams on short weeks have a distinct advantage. It certainly would help any road team to play in Jacksonville. The Jaguars have been outscored 153-44 at home this season, on the wrong end of lopsided losses to Houston, Cincinnati, Chicago and Detroit.

Against Indy, nothing seemed to go Jacksonville’s way.

Marcedes Lewis, Rashad Jennings and Shorts dropped passes early. Josh Scobee missed a 44-yard field goal attempt, snapping a streak of 20 consecutive makes.

The Jaguars had an interception overturned by a roughing

FLORIDA: Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck (12) celebrates his touchdown run against the Jacksonville Jaguars during the second quarter of an NFL football game in Jacksonville, Fla. — AP the passer penalty on Terrance Knighton, keeping alive a drive that ended in a touchdown. They also were on the losing end of two reviews. “We’re trying to overcome ourselves,” coach Mike Mularkey said. “We have to overcome ourselves. When we do that, we’ll start winning games.” The mistakes kept coming, too. Laurent Robinson fumbled at the end of a 9-yard gain, getting the ball stripped by Moise Fokou. Officials initially ruled Robinson was down, but the call was overturned on review. That turnover led to Indy’s second touchdown and prompted Mularkey’s meltdown on the sideline.

Mularkey lost his cool when officials refused to acknowledge his pleas for a review on Luck’s fourth-down TD plunge.

Luck appeared to fumble the ball as he crossed the goal line.

All scoring plays are reviewed, so Mularkey couldn’t challenge, but he seemingly wanted officials to take a longer look at the scoring play. He whipped his play sheet and headset onto the field, drawing a flag for unsportsmanlike conduct. — AP

of holding a game here,” said the Shanghai-based Young. “Wembley sells out in three hours - that’s the NFL. Having empty seats and saying, ‘Oh we still have tickets left’ - that’s not the NFL. “We’re not going after everyone, we’re not going after the rural areas, we’re concentrating on 19 major cities, we know we have a tipping point of 38 million. “We’re very much more Louis Vuitton than the Gap. We’re focusing on a smaller group of people and until that base is large enough we don’t want to damage our brand equity.” Unlike the NBA, which has been able to flourish in China due to the country’s long-established basketball structure, the NFL is starting from scratch. — Reuters

No 8 Seminoles rally to beat Hokies 28-22 BLACKSBURG: Florida State got to see the Virginia Tech it expected on Thursday night at Lane Stadium. When the eighth-ranked Seminoles were forced to validate their lofty ranking, and keep their Atlantic Coast Conference title plans intact, EJ Manuel and the offense were more than equal to the task. Manuel hit Rashad Greene with a short slant pass that Greene took 39 yards for a touchdown with 40 seconds to play, and the Seminoles survived a scare to beat the inspired Hokies 28-22. “Nobody was flustered, nobody was afraid,” Manuel said about the drive that came after a safety and a field goal had given Virginia Tech a 22-20 lead with just more than 2 minutes to play. “We all knew what we needed to do. We feel like we’re built for things like that, and it showed tonight.”

The Seminoles (9-1, 6-1 ACC) won their fourth straight and moved within a victory against Maryland on Nov 17 of securing a spot in the ACC championship game Dec 1. And they did it in dramatic fashion, with a 68-yard drive against a defense that had held it to nearly 300 yards below its 525yard average. Limited to minus-15 rushing yards for the game, Florida State got a 7-yard run from James Wilder Jr on a fourth-and-1 play from its 41 on the final drive. Manuel, a Virginia Beach native, then hit Greg Dent for 13 yards two plays later. After he threw a pass away under pressure, Manuel hit Greene on a short slant against a zone defense that was out of position, and Greene took it all the way.

“It was basic, simple,” Manuel said. “Get him the ball, and Rashad did the rest.” Manuel was sacked five times, but finished 25 for 42 for 326 yards with three touchdowns and an interception. Greene caught six passes for 125 yards and two touchdowns. Dent caught the other scoring pass.

Manuel and Greene also teamed up late in the first half, after the Hokies had held them to no yards for the first 12 minutes of the second quarter. Manuel led a precise fiveplay, 71-yard drive, and hit Greene with consecutive passes of 22 and 25 yards, the latter giving them a 13-10 lead at the half.

Virginia Tech (4-6, 2-4) lost for the fifth time in six games and will have to win at Boston College and then at home against state rival Virginia to qualify for a bowl game for the 20th straight year. “We’ve experienced some things this year that guys haven’t experienced around here in a long time,” coach Frank Beamer said. The Hokies are in the midst of their worst season in two decades. Virginia Tech had gone ahead 22-20 on Cody Journell’s 21-yard field goal with 2:19 remaining. The kick capped a 52-yard drive that stalled when Logan Thomas ran for 2 yards on third-and-3 from the 6. “We actually had the perfect play drawn up, but we missed a block,” Thomas said. “I probably would have scored.” The Hokies’ go-ahead drive came after a stellar defensive series that ended in a safety. After the Seminoles took over at their 20, Manuel threw incomplete on first down and James Gayle sacked him for a 10-yard loss on second down. A delay of game penalty moved the ball back to the 5 and, when the Seminoles tried running Devonta Freeman to the left, Jack Tyler caught him from behind in the end zone. Freeman tried to throw it, an illegal forward pass, and the safety pulled the Hokies to 20-19. — AP

SPORTS

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2012

Federer outclasses Ferrer Defending champion books last four LONDON: Defending champion Roger Federer guaranteed his place in the last four of the ATP World Tour Finals with a win over David Ferrer on Thursday but Janko Tipsarevic became the first player eliminated after a second defeat.

World number two Federer, seeking a record-extending seventh title at the end-of-season finale, dished out yet more punishment to Ferrer in a 6-4 7-6 victory at the O2, taking his career record over the tenacious Spaniard to 14-0. Ferrer is now vying with Juan Martin del Potro for the other semi-final spot from Group B after the towering Argentine pummelled Serbia’s Tipsarevic 6-0 6-4. Tipsarevic, who pulled out of the Paris Masters last week after feeling unwell and hardly practiced since arriving, has managed eight games in four sets and cannot reach the semi-finals even if he beats Ferrer in his final round-robin match.

“I’m playing horrible, I’m playing worse than horrible, I’m playing the worst tennis that I played in a long time,” was the Serb’s brutally honest assessment of his tournament so far.

Del Potro, beaten by Ferrer in his first match, will probably need to beat Federer in his final group match. Federer took a while to settle into his smooth rhythm against Ferrer who had numerous opportunities to make inroads in the opening games of their encounter. Ferrer was 0-40 ahead on Federer’s opening service game but having failed to capitalise he was immediately broken himself. He squandered more break points in the next game as Federer found himself 3-0 up without playing well.

ENDEAVOUR REWARDED Ferrer, who has a season-leading 73 match wins this year, could have been forgiven for feeling pessimistic about his prospects but he was finally rewarded for his endeavor with a break in the fifth game when Federer wafted a backhand wide. “It could have been the other way round, with him leading 3-0,” Federer, unbeaten at the tournament since a similar dominant streak was ended by Nikolay Davydenko in the 2009 semi-finals, told reporters. Having hauled himself back on level terms, however, Ferrer wavered at 4-5, allowing Federer to take the opening set. Ferrer, darting around the court in his fluorescent lime green top, hung on to Federer’s coat tails in the second set to extend the Swiss maestro into a tiebreak. Federer’s serve then clicked into gear after something of an off day and he landed every first serve to march 63 ahead.

Still Ferrer refused to accept the inevitable, saving two match points, but there was no escape as Federer clinched his place in the semi-finals for the 10th time in 11 appearances at the elite event with one round-robin match to spare.

“I think he showed why he’s so tough to beat today,” Federer, who saved nine out of 10 break points, said. “He makes you hit an extra shot, he makes it physical. You know that mentally he’s not going to go anywhere.” Federer has now won his last 12 matches at the ATP World Tour Finals since that loss to Davydenko when the tournament made its debut at the O2 Arena. With two comfortable wins this year few would bet against him finishing on a high by clinching a hat-trick of titles at the spectacular domed venue alongside the River Thames. Tipsarevic served two double faults in the opening game against Del Potro and his evening did not get much better. Pounding huge forehands into the corners, Del Potro rushed through the opening set in 28 minutes and although the bespectacled Tipsarevic delighted the large evening crowd with a fighting second set the outcome never really looked in doubt. “I passed the hour mark one more time baby!” Tipsarevic said on his Twitter page soon after leaving the court following a disappointing 76-minute match.

It was hardly the most taxing night for Del Potro and the Argentine remained on court for a little extra practise after his victory with Manchester City soccer player and compatriot Sergio Aguero who had been watching from the stands.

Three years ago when Del Potro reached the final another Manchester City striker, Carlos Tevez, provided a hitting partner while he waited to find out if he had qualified for the semi-finals. Group A will untangle itself on Friday when world number one Novak Djokovic plays Tomas Berdych and Andy Murray takes on winless Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.— Reuters

BRISBANE: South Africa’s Hashim Amla plays a shot as Australia’s wicket keeper Matthew Wade (left) looks on during day one of the first cricket test between Australia and South Africa at the Gabba stadium in Brisbane, Australia. — AP

Amla & Kallis put S Africa in charge Australian bowlers struggle on sluggish track BRISBANE: Hashim Amla was approaching his third century in his last four tests as South Africa defused Australia’s pace attack and reached a dominant 255 for two at the end of the opening day of the first test at the Gabba yesterday. Amla, who was 90 not out when the stumps were drawn early because of bad light, put on 136 in an unbeaten third wicket stand with Jacques Kallis (84 not out) after openers Graeme Smith (10) and Alviro Petersen (64) were dismissed either side of the lunch break.

Australian seamer Peter Siddle was left rueing missed chances after his no ball gave Kallis a life on 43 and he dropped a catch off his own bowling that would have sent Amla back to the dressing room with 74 runs. The home side had hoped the bowling attack which destroyed India’s vaunted batsmen last year would do the same with the South Africans but the fireworks from James Pattinson, Ben Hilfenhaus and Siddle failed to materialize.

“We wanted to really put our peg in the ground and I think we did that really well,” said Petersen. “Two wickets down, we’re in a comfortable position but tomorrow’s going to be really important, to back that up and make sure today’s work doesn’t go to waste.”

Amla, the world’s top-ranked batsman, signaled his intent early in the day with a soaring six off spinner Nathan Lyon and coolly paced his innings, easing up when the quicks got into their stride and opening up against anything loose. The 29-year-old put on 90 for the second wicket with Petersen before the opener threw away his wicket by wafting a shot for Mike Hussey to catch at mid-on off Lyon’s bowling halfway through the second session. Picking up his 5,000th test run along the way, Amla

reached his 24th test half century before tea and, Siddle’s dropped catch apart, it looked like only the gathering clouds would stop him reaching his 17th test century.

EVERGREEN KALLIS The evergreen Kallis had designs on the milestone himself after racing to his 56th test half century in just 63 balls, reaching the mark with a sublime cover drive. The all rounder rode his luck, though, when he ballooned a catch to Lyon only for the umpire to call him back to the crease after TV replays showed Siddle had failed to keep his front foot behind the line. Australia had earlier benefited from the TV appeal system to dismiss Smith lbw when a Pattinson delivery caught the South African skipper’s trailing leg but umpire Billy Bowden declined to raise his characteristic crooked finger. South Africa won the toss and chose to bat, which looked like a good decision after the wicket and overcast conditions

failed to produce the sort of swing and movement off the pitch the seamers had hoped for. “Definitely a long day,” said Pattinson. “It wasn’t the Gabba wicket that we were used to. It was a bit slow and there was no sideways movement. “You can make excuses but we probably lacked a bit of penetration and a bit of consistency and our maiden count was the big thing. “When it’s not playing as much as you would like, you probably want to dry up the runs a bit as we probably didn’t do that.”

Whether South Africa’s other big decision of the morning - to drop spinner Imran Tahir and give a debut to Rory Kleinveldt as part of a four-pronged pace attack - proves a good one was put into doubt when JP Duminy was injured after close of play.

Duminy, who was expected to support the pacemen with his off spin, hurt his left ankle in a fall while training on the pitch and had to be helped off before being taken to hospital for a scan. —Reuters

SCOREBOARD BRISBANE, Australia: Scoreboard after the opening day of the first Test between Australia and South Africa at the Gabba yesterday: South Africa 1st Innings G. Smith lbw b Pattinson 10 A. Petersen c Hussey b Lyon 64 H. Amla not out 90 J. Kallis not out 84 Extras (b1, lb1, w2, nb3) 7 Total (2 wkts, 82 overs) 255 Fall of wickets: 1-29 (Smith), 2-119 (Petersen) To bat: AB de Villiers, Jacques Rudolph, JP Duminy, Vernon Philander, Morne

Morkel, Dale Steyn, Rory Kleinveldt.

Bowling: Hilfenhaus 20-5-53-0 (1w), Pattinson 20-4-53-1 (1w, 1nb), Siddle 20-4-58-0 (2nb), Lyon 12-0-61-1, Hussey 4-0-21-0, Quiney 6-3-7-0 Australia: Dave Warner, Ed Cowan, Rob Quiney, Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke (capt), Mike Hussey, Matthew Wade, Peter Siddle, Nathan Lyon, James Pattinson, Ben Hilfenhaus.

Mitchell Starc (12th man).

SPORTS SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2012

DC United eliminates NY from MLS playoffs HARRISON: DC United and Seattle Sounders both pulled off impressive away wins with late goals on Thursday to progress to the last four in the Major League Soccer playoffs. Nick DeLeon scored the winning goal in the 88th minute as DC United advanced to the Eastern Conference final with a 1-0 victory over the New York Red Bulls. United advanced 2-1 on aggregate after a 1-1 draw in Washington on Saturday, and set up a conference final against Houston Dynamo. Seattle won 1-0 at Real Salt Lake, scoring the only goal over the two legs. Mario Martinez ended a season-long scoring drought with the sole goal in the 81st minute. The Sounders will play Los Angeles Galaxy in the West final.

In a game that was postponed a day by snow, the Red Bulls appeared poised to take the lead in the 69th minute when they were awarded a penalty as D.C. United goalie Bill Hamid was given a red card. Kenny Cooper netted the penalty but it was disallowed for encroachment, then DC backup keeper Joe Willis made

a crucial save on the second attempt. The winning goal came when Robbie Russell’s through-ball sent DeLeon in on goal alone and he put his chance away past Red Bulls keeper Luis Robles, who was hardly tested all game.

The Red Bulls’ man-advantage only lasted until the 75th when veteran Mexicna defender Rafa Marquez was ejected after receiving his second yellow card. DC United has not won the Eastern Conference since 2004, when it went on to claim the MLS Cup title. For New York, it is another fruitless season, with the 1996 foundation club having never won the MLS crown.

Seattle’s Fredy Montero set up the winning goal when he swung a cross out to Martinez on the left side of the box. The pass drew Salt Lake goalkeeper Nick Rimando toward the left post.

Martinez fired at the opposite post and buried the ball in the right corner. The Sounders had been winless in three games against RSL during the regular season and failed to score in any of them.— AP

SANDY: Kenny Mansally #29 of Real Salt Lake heads the ball past Fredy Montero #17 of the Seattle Sounders during the first half of an MLS Western Conference Semifinals play-off soccer game on November 8, 2012. — AFP

Spanish League Preview

PSG to protect the top spot PARIS: Paris Saint Germain will attempt to shelter their narrow advantage at the top of Ligue One tomorrow without suspended top scorer Zlatan Ibrahimovic as they travel to defending champions Montpellier. The Sweden captain leads the domestic charts with ten goals and inspired PSG to a 4-0 Champions League victory over Dynamo Zagreb in midweek, but the 31-year-old will be sorely missed for the trip to the Stade de la Mosson after picking up a straight red card during last weekend’s surprise 2-1 reverse at home to Saint Etienne.

However, Montpellier have shown few reminders of the form that made them champions for the first time last season and come into the match sixth from bottom with just three wins from 15 matches including their elimination from the Champions League last Tuesday when they slumped to a 3-1 defeat against Athens club Olympiakos.

Marseille who trail their arch rivals only on goal difference and have a game in hand can pile the pressure on Carlo Ancelotti’s men when they play tomorrow afternoon against a Nice side who have won only four times in 44 trips to the Velodrome and just the once since 1976.

Coach Elie Baup fielded a weakened line-up for Thursday’s Europa League test against Borussia Monchengladbach as their fixture list becomes congested.

“It will be our 19th match since the beginning of the season and sixth in 20 days,” explained Baup who welcomed back Senegal defender Souleymane Diawara this week from a six-month knee-injury ironically picked up against Nice. “I am super excited and feel like a ten-yearold before Christmas,” enthused Diawara who won back to back French titles in 2009 and 2010 with Bordeaux and Marseille respectively. “People would have said we were crazy if we expected to have 22 points after ten matches but this team can go a long, long way if we can keep the team spirit we have at the moment, continued the 33year-old who also had a brief spell with Charlton Athletic.

Lyon are slated to play Marseille on November 28 in the game in hand that was initially postponed due to stormy weather on the south coast and have quietly slotted into third place and just one point behind the two leaders as they travel to Sochaux tomorrow. The seventime champions travel back from their Europa League encounter against Athletic Bilbao where Eric Hely’s side await, following their 2-1 victory over Evian-TG in a replayed match that lifted them out of the relegation zone.

Elsewhere, fourth-placed Toulouse will attempt to bounce back from their defeat against Bordeaux last weekend and a home tie against Corsican side Ajaccio while Valenciennes look to remain in touch with the leaders and can even break into the top three with victory in Bastia. Bordeaux the 2009 champions under Laurent Blanc are in Britanny to tackle Lorient, Lille must somehow overcome their 6-1 Champions League humiliation against Bayern Munich as they host Brest, Saint Etienne entertain Troyes, Reims are at home to Evian-TG while basement dwellers Nancy took Rennes in the only match yesterday. — AFP

La Liga’s Depor seek re-financing package MADRID: A Spanish government crackdown on outstanding tax bills has forced La Liga side Deportivo Coruna to seek a re-financing package to avoid slipping into administration, club president Augusto Cesar Lendoiro has said. Depor, league champions in 2000, have been targeted by the tax authority with an embargo on their income. Local media have reported in the past they owed the government a figure of around 34 million euros.

“Deportivo...have started the negotiations that preface a meeting with creditors and to reach an agreement on a re-financing package,” Lendoiro told a news conference late on Thursday. “The tax authority has embargoed practically all our income. “The tax authority has received more than 20 million euros from us in

2012. Deportivo have offered to pay the outstanding debt over the next 10 years, if they lift the embargoes.”

Lendoiro, president of Deportivo since 1988, was keen to stress that the Galician club was a viable business. “Our income far exceeds our expenditure,” he said. “Deportivo don’t want to enter administration. They want to pay their debts with the tax authorities and their creditors.” The Spanish government said they were owed 750 million euros in unpaid tax bills at the start of the year, and reached an agreement with the football league (LFP) in April to help speed up the settling of these debts with a tougher stance. Spain’s tax agency has collected 329.9 million euros this year, with 305.1 million coming from clubs in the first

division, according to an agency briefing note.

Some 130 million euros more is expected to pour into the agency’s coffers this year, around 55 million of which is accounted for by embargoes placed on income from sources including audiovisual rights, ticket sales and lottery, the note said. Depor, who spent last season in the second division, are 16th in La Liga with two wins from 10 games and visit Real Zaragoza today. “It’s up to me to make sure this doesn’t affect the team,” Depor coach Jose Luis Oltra told a news conference on Thursday before Lendoiro spoke. “I haven’t seen the players looking worried or lacking in concentration. I don’t think we need to be alarmist about the situation.”— Reuters

SPORTS SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2012

German League Preview

High-flying Bayern wary of dark horses Frankfurt BERLIN: Coach Jupp Heynckes has said Bayern Munich can expect a tough time against third-placed Eintracht Frankfurt today when the Bundesliga leaders get back to domestic business. Fresh from their midweek Champions League hammering of French side Lille in a 6-1 rout at the Allianz Arena, Heynckes knows Bayern can expect a dog-fight against Frankfurt, who have proved this season’s surprise packages. “We had a deluge of chances in the first-half (against Lille), but the opponent was not exactly first class. It will be much harder against Frankfurt today,” said Heynckes with his team seven-points clear at the top. Under coach Armin Veh, who won the 2007 Bundesliga title with Stuttgart, Frankfurt have won six of their 10 games so far this season on their return to the top-tier, all achieved on a modest budget. “(Spain’s Javi) Martinez cost (Bayern) 40 million euros, plus 10 million for his salary, with this 50 million euros for one

Bayern player, we could finance the whole squad for two years,” revealed Veh. “This shows that we aren’t equals. Our key games each season are against rivals like Augsburg and Mainz.

Our rivals are not Bayern or Schalke.” With Germany’s Mario Gomez recovering from injury and Croatia’s Mario Mandzukic missing the Lille win with ‘flu, 34-year-old third-choice striker Claudio Pizarro is pushing for a place with five goals in his last two games. The Peru star scored a hat-trick in just 15 minutes against Lille to stake his claim for selection.

Frankfurt have not won in Munich since November 2000, but captain Alexander Meier, their top scorer with seven goals this season, says priority is on collecting enough points to stay in the league. “The important thing is the league. We want to collect 40 points as quickly as possible. Everything else does not matter,” he said, with Frankfurt having beaten Leverkusen, Hamburg and Hanover this season and held Dortmund to a 3-3

draw. Fresh from their 2-2 Champions League draw with Arsenal in mid-week, second-placed Schalke 04 host Werder Bremen without Japan right-back Atsuto Uchida and midfielder Marco Hoeger after they picked up injuries.

Unbeaten in their last three games, Bremen have climbed to seventh in the table, but chairman Klaus Allofs admits they face a stern test. “Despite (Spain star) Raul leaving the club in the summer, Schalke have not got any weaker,” he said. Having only been denied a victory at Real Madrid on Wednesday by a late goal, Dortmund return to league action at bottom side Augsburg today needing a win to move up from fifth as they lag 11 points behind Bayern. “We are eager to gather points in Augsburg, but we don’t underestimate our opponents,” said Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp with his side unbeaten in their last five games. “Tuesday showed us how much fun football can be, when the whole team invests in the performance.”— AFP

SPL Preview

Celtic return to earth after Barca heroics GLASGOW: Celtic’s stars will come back to earth tomorrow following their Champions League heroics against Barcelona in midweek as they prepare for a Scottish Premier League tie against St Johnstone. The Hoops players are still coming to terms with their historic 2-1 win over the La Liga leaders in Wednesday’s Group G match. But despite putting in a number of impressive performances in Europe’s elite competition this season the Glasgow giants have struggled for consistency domestically. A defeat by Kilmarnock on their last league outing at Parkhead was followed by a 2-2 draw with Dundee United last weekend.

A host of first team players missed the match against Barca through injury and many will struggle to be fit in time for St Johnstone leaving manager Neil Lennon to rely on fringe members of his squad. One such player who has taken advantage of the injury crisis to shine in recent weeks is striker Miku, who believes he is finally getting back to his best after initially struggling at the Parkhead club following his summer move from La Liga. The Venezuelan international was signed on a year’s loan from Spanish side Getafe in August but has taken his time to adapt to life in Scotland.

However, after scoring his first goal for the Parkhead club against Dundee United the forward was then picked to lead the line in Wednesday’s Champions League clash. And looking ahead to tomorrow’s SPL match against St Johnstone the striker insists his side’s shock defeat of the Catalan giants went some way to vindicate his move to Glasgow. “Too many people in Spain thought my transfer to Scotland was a backwards step but I don’t think so,” Miku said. “It’s not back, it’s a step in the same direction.

“People in Spain will respect football in Scotland more now because Barcelona is probably the best team in history but Celtic beat them in the Champions League. “Hopefully we can go to the next round and that would be good for Scottish football. “It’s a different league and country and I had two months when it was difficult because of the weather, the food and my wife doesn’t speak good English and my baby was sick, but now I am good, I am enjoying it and the manager speaks to me a lot.

“He told me football here is powerful and strong so I had to prepare my body and train hard. “This weekend I scored a goal and last night I played all of the game so I feel very good.

“It is a big moment for me, very enjoyable, and the team are working hard. “We need to rest then think of the next game against St Johnstone tomorrow.” Elsewhere today, financiallystricken club Hearts take on third-placed Inverness Caledonian Thistle with the threat of closure hanging over the Edinburgh men due to an unpaid tax bill.—AFP

HAMBURG: Ukrainian heavyweight boxing world champion Wladimir Klitschko (left) and challenger Polish Mariusz Wach pose during the official weigh-in yesterday in the northern German city of Hamburg on the eve of his IBF, IBO, WBO and WBA title fight. — AFP

‘Viking’ Wach abstains in his bid to shock Klitschko BERLIN: Poland’s Mariusz Wach may be nicknamed ‘The Viking’, but he has subjected himself to abstinence and a spartan regime in his bid to beat world heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko today. With an impressive unbeaten record of 15 knock-outs in 27 wins, the Polish challenger takes on Klitschko with the world champions’ IBF, WBO and WBA belts on the line in Hamburg. For the first time in his 61 professional fights, Klitschko will have to look up at his opponent as he gives away four centimeters to the 2.02m tall Wach, who has a reach of 2.08m from fingertip to fingertip, across his shoulders. Despite Wach’s record, his only significant victory is a fourth-round knockout win last year against Kevin McBride, who beat an ageing Mike Tyson back in 2005, but he has trained three times a day for five months for this fight.

“I am prepared 100 percent and will provide a fight that will remain long in the memory,” says the 32-year-old Wach, who lives in New Jersey. Having banned himself from sex, alcohol or any sweets and subjected himself to a fierce training regime, Wach has taken every measure to ensure success. Since entering his US training camp on June 11, Wach has been accompanied everywhere by a cardboard cut-out of Klitschko to remind him of the challenge he faces. The Klitschko cut-out watched over his shoulder at dinner, during training and even when he sleeps.

“Because I have always seen him, it’s a kind of psychological conflict and he has become my friend,” explained Wach and having seen Klitschko’s face everyday for months, there will be no fear factor when they meet in the ring. With 50 knock-outs and 58 victories in 61 professional fights, this will be Klitschko’s third defense since unifying all three belts by beating Britain’s David Haye in July 2011, also in Hamburg. “I am a real heavyweight,” said Krakow-born Wach. “I will not let Wladimir come into the fight, but will put him under pressure from the start. “We will take a lot of hard hits, until I finally knock him out. “I’ll be the first heavyweight champion from Poland.”

But Klitschko will present a tough challenge. “Welcome to big time boxing!” Klitschko, 36, boomed at his opponent at Monday’s press conference. “He can hit pretty good,” added the champion. “But it depends on how you use the size. “If the opportunity arises, I will finish the fight early.” This will be Klitschko’s first fight since his trainer Emanuel Steward died of cancer on October 24 in his home town of Detroit. “I will be without Emanuel, but his presence will be with me when I step into the ring and I will defend the titles we have won together,” said Klitschko, who will have sparring partner Johnathon Banks in his corner in place of Steward. “I know what I have to do and I will do it for him.”— AFP

SPORTS SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2012

Leaders United seek to exploit rivals’ inactivity LONDON: After securing a slot in the Champions League last 16 in mid-week, Manchester United will look to drive home their advantage in the Premier League when they visit Aston Villa today.

United moved to the top of the pile by beating Arsenal 2-1 last weekend and with nearest rivals Chelsea and Manchester City both in action tomorrow, victory at Villa Park would put Alex Ferguson’s men four points clear.

Having beaten Chelsea and Arsenal in their last two league outings, United now embark upon a kinder run of fixtures that includes a trip to Norwich City before home games against Queens Park Rangers and West Ham United.

Wednesday’s 3-1 win over Braga in Portugal means Ferguson can afford to rest players in United’s two remaining Champions League group games, so the domestic title race will now be the number one priority until the end of the year.

Villa are just one place above the relegation zone, and United striker Wayne Rooney says his side should show no mercy as they bid to stretch their lead at the summit. “There have been games this season where we’ve been fantastic, and there have been games where we’ve had to grind out results,” he told Sky Sports.

“We’re in a good position and we know we can play better football. Now we have a run of games where we feel we can get maximum points, so hopefully we can do that.” Arsenal’s Champions League status is less secure, Tuesday’s 2-2 draw at Schalke having left them in second place in Group A, and last weekend’s loss at Old Trafford saw them fall to seventh in the Premier League.

Arsene Wenger’s side have won just two of their last six games in the league and will be without the suspended Jack Wilshere when they host Fulham, who are level on points with Arsenal despite a

run of one win in five matches. Arsenal have seen Everton, Tottenham Hotspur and even West Bromwich Albion steal a march on them in the race for Champions League qualification, and Theo Walcott says his team must now stand up and be counted. “It is going to be a tough month for us now,” said the England winger, who scored his side’s opening goal in Gelsenkirchen. “It is going to test us all, not just physically but mentally as well, and I think we are ready for it.”

Everton go into today’s visit of Sunderland in fourth place, but they are hoping to end a sequence of four straight draws, having being denied victory at Fulham last weekend by a 90thminute Steve Sidwell goal. West Brom, meanwhile, will have their work cut out away at Wigan Athletic, who are bidding for a third consecutive victory after wins over West Ham and Spurs. It could be a

Smalling sets sights on Villa after injury woe MANCHESTER: Chris Smalling says he is anxious to make up for lost time as he targets a Premier League return for leaders Manchester United at Aston Villa today. The England international defender made his first competitive appearance for six months as Alex Ferguson’s side came from behind to defeat Braga 3-1 in Portugal on Wednesday to seal a place in the Champions League knockout phase.

Now the 22-year-old, who emerged unscathed from a full 90-minute outing, is eager to return to domestic action, and has set his sights on a starting place against struggling Villa after putting his injury troubles behind him. Smalling has described missing the start of the season with a broken metatarsal as one of his most frustrating spells since joining United from Fulham in the summer of 2010 for £10 million ($16 million, 12.5 million euros). “It was a really frustrating time for me, especially over the summer when I had to work hard while the lads were on pre-season, and then had a breakdown again,” he said.

“I had been looking at this period of October and November for being able to come back and make an impact. I’ve been able to train over this last week or so and I feel ready. “I’m hoping I can stay away from injuries now because I think I’m due that. I had a clash of heads during the match (against Braga) but I was fine after about five minutes. “I feel good after playing the game, so bring today.” United, pipped to the title by neighbours Manchester City on the final day of last season, will open up a four-point lead at the top of the table if they win at Villa, who start the weekend one place above the relegation zone with nine points from 10 games.

Ferguson’s side have won eight of their last nine league games and with secondplaced Chelsea and third-placed Manchester City not in action until tomorrow, United have a chance to give themselves some breathing space. Smalling could start in place of Jonny Evans, who had to be replaced by Rio Ferdinand against Braga after suffering a groin injury. Nani, who started in Portugal in mid-week, is also a doubt with a hamstring

decisive weekend for bottom side Southampton, who host Swansea City amid speculation that coach Nigel Adkins’ position is under threat after eight defeats in his side’s first 10 matches. Second-bottom Queens Park Rangers take their bid for a first win of the season to Stoke City, while third-bottom Reading will hope to close the four-point gap between themselves and Villa when they host Norwich City. Tottenham’s trip to Manchester City takes centre stage tomorrow, when the defending champions will seek to bounce back from the 22 draw with Ajax on Tuesday that left them hovering above the trapdoor in the Champions League. Chelsea would have been in a similar position had it not been for Victor Moses’ injury-time winner against Shakhtar Donetsk, which will give the European champions a spring in their step ahead of tomorrow’s visit of Liverpool.— AFP

Today’s matches on TV

English Premier League Reading v Norwich Abu Dhabi Sports HD Southampton v Swansea Abu Dhabi Sports HD Wigan v West Brom Abu Dhabi Sports HD Stoke v QPR Abu Dhabi Sports HD Everton v Sunderland Abu Dhabi Sports HD Arsenal v Fulham Abu Dhabi Sports HD Aston Villa v Man United Abu Dhabi Sports HD

18:00 18:00 18:00 18:00 18:00 18:00 20:30

Spanish League Rayo Vallecano v Celta Aljazeera Sports +2 RCD Espanyol v Osasuna Aljazeera Sports +2 Real Zaragoza v Deportivo Aljazeera Sports +5 Malaga v Real Sociedad Aljazeera Sports +2

18:00 20:00 22:00 0:00

Italian League Cagliari v Catania Aljazeera Sports +1 Pescara v Juventus Aljazeera Sports +1

BRAGA: (Left to right) Braga’s defender Nuno Coelho, goalkeeper Antonio Bastos ‘Beto’, Braga’s Brazilian defender Douglas Ferreira ‘Douglao’ and Manchester United’s English defender Chris Smalling wait for the ball during the UEFA Champions League football match SC Braga vs Manchester United at the Municipal stadium of Braga on November 7, 2012. Manchester won the match 3-1. — AFP problem. “Jonny felt his groin a little bit and as a precaution we took him off quickly,” said United assistant manager Mike Phelan. “With Nani, I think it was probably just a lack of games and his hamstring started to tighten up, so we weren’t taking any chances with that.”

While Smalling is fighting fit, Aston Villa midfielder Gary Gardner is still working his way back from a second anterior cruciate ligament injury in the space of two years. But the 20-year-old is delighted with the way his manager Paul Lambert has assembled a squad containing a mix of youth and experience. “You need older lads in the team to keep it going but the young lads have come

in and done fine. They’ve been brilliant,” he said. “It’s all good-the old lads here are brilliant, but I think you do need a mix of both.

“A lot of the players have come through the ranks and we’re all together.

“The senior players have taken us under their wing. “It’s good to have a lot of young lads around for the banter but the old lads mix in as well-that’s the best part about it.”

Gardner should return before Christmas and is keen to impress when given an opportunity again. “I came on against West Ham so that gives me positive feelings that he (Lambert) likes what he sees in me, so hopefully when I get back I’ll get another chance,” he added. —AFP

20:00 22:45

German League Fortuna D v Hoffenheim Dubai Sports 6 Augusburg v Dortmund Dubai Sports 5 SC Freiburg v Hamburger SV Dubai Sports 4 Bayern v Eintracht Dubai Sports 6

17:30 17:30 17:30 17:30

French League Lille OSC v Brest Aljazeera Sports +4 Toulouse FC v AC Ajaccio Aljazeera Sports +9 Bastia v Valenciennes Aljazeera Sports +8 Saint Etienne v ES Troyes Aljazeera Sports +6

19:00 22:00 22:00 22:00

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2012

Sports

Luck runs for 2 TDS, Colts maul Jaguars

43

BELGRADE: Inter Milan’s Fredy Guarin (left), Partizan’s goalkeeper Nikola Petrovic (center) and Partizan’s Milos Ostojic fight for the ball during their UEFA Europa League Group H soccer match between FK Partizan Belgrade and Inter Milan, in Belgrade. (Inset) FC Anzhi Makhachkala’s player Rasim Tagirbekov (left) fights for the ball with Liverpool FC’s player Jonjo Shelvey during their UEFA Europa League group A football match FC Anzhi Makhachkala vs Liverpool FC in Moscow. —AFP

Inter, Leverkusen reach Europa last 32 Liverpool lose in Moscow; Holders Atletico beaten BELGRADE: Inter Milan and Bayer Leverkusen cruised into the Europa League knockout stage with emphatic wins on Thursday but holders Atletico Madrid and former winners Liverpool suffered surprise defeats. Russia’s Rubin Kazan, Olympique Lyon, Hanover 96 and Metalist Kharkiv joined Bayer and treble UEFA Cup winners Inter in sealing their progress to the last 32 with two games to spare. Atletico Madrid’s 16-match unbeaten run came to an end at Portugal’s Academica, 2-0 winners thanks to a brace from Wilson Eduardo, while Ivorian striker Lacina Traore fired Russia’s Anzhi Makhachkala to a 1-0 win over Liverpool in Moscow.

There was also a brilliant individual performance from Napoli striker Edinson Cavani, who scored four goals as the 1989 winners twice fought back from a goal down to beat Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk 4-2 and stay in the hunt. Inter breezed past Serbian Champions Partizan Belgrade 3-1 in Serbia as Argentine forward

Rodrigo Palacio came off the bench after a goalless first half and sent the Serie A side on their way with a brace. Fredi Guarin added the third before Nemanja Tomic scored Partizan’s first goal in the competition, which came as scant consolation after they suffered a fourth successive defeat and stretched their winless streak against Italian opposition to 24 years.

Inter coach Andrea Stramaccioni, who rested the bulk of his first-choice players who engineered a 3-1 win at Italian champions Juventus today, praised livewire Palacio after he silenced the noisy but well-behaved 25,000 home crowd. “Palacio a very important player for us, he has very good skills because he is a versatile forward who can play in several positions and has an eye for goal,” Stramaccioni told a news conference. “We have continued our winning streak and this will give us the confidence we need to maintain our challenge for the Italian League title, starting with a difficult away game against Atalanta,” he added.

DEFOE HAT-TRICK Rubin booked their ticket with a 1-0 win at Azeri champions Neftchi Baku, while Bayer thrashed Rapid Vienna 3-0 and Metalist beat Rosenborg 3-1 to advance from Group K. Lyon ensured their survival through the winter break with a 3-2 win at last season’s runners-up Athletic Bilbao, who are out of the reckoning with just one point from four games, while Hannover edged Swedes Helsinborg at home by the same score thanks to an injury-time Szabolcs Huszti penalty.

Tottenham, who won the UEFA Cup in 1972 and 1984, kept alive their hopes of progressing with Jermain Defoe scoring a hat-trick in a 3-1 win over Slovenia’s NK Maribor. Former Bolton Wanderers player Fabrice Muamba walked on at halftime to salute the crowd in an emotional return for a player who nearly died at White Hart Lane in March when he suffered a cardiac arrest on the pitch. With tears streaming down his face, he pointed to where he fell and then addressed

the fans, who gave him a standing ovation. Lazio top Group J with eight points after thrashing Panathinaikos 3-0, while Tottenham are second on six and Maribor slipped one place down to third on four points.

Fenerbahce also edged closer to the knockout stage with a 2-0 home win over AEL Limassol while 1976 winners Borussia Moenchengladbach are still deadlocked with Marseille after their 2-2 draw on the southern French coast. Both sides have five points and are as many behind Fenerbahce after Gladbach striker Juan Arango first fired the German side into an early lead and then equalized in the 90th minute.

Swedish club AIK beat PSV Eindhoven in Stockholm thanks to a first-half wonder goal from on-loan Celtic striker Mohamed Bangura. “If you’re going to win these games, you have to score great goals. Mohamed scored a fantastic goal. A brilliant achievement,” AIK coach Andreas Alm told Sweden’s TV4 Sport. — Reuters